Angels in a Transept, Study after Goya

Details

JOHN SINGER SARGENT (1856-1925)
Angels in a Transept, Study after Goya
signed and inscribed 'John S. Sargent, after Goya to E.C.' (upper left)
oil on panel
13 ½ x 10 ¼ in. (34.3 x 26 cm.)
Painted in 1879

Provenance

Sir Evan Charteris, London (gift from the artist, then by descent).
Richard Thune, New York (circa 1994).
Private collection.
Richard Thune, New York (2006).
Adelson Galleries, New York.
Acquired from the above by the present owners, circa 2007.

Literature

W.H. Downes, John S. Sargent: His Life and Work, London, 1926, p. 368 (titled Study of Goya in an Arch at San Antonio, Madrid).
E. Charteris, John Sargent, London, 1927, p. 286 (titled Study of Goya (at San Antonio, Madrid)).
C.M. Mount, John Singer Sargent: A Biography, New York, 1969, p. 461, no. K7921 (titled Goya (from an Archway at San Antonio, Madrid)).
R. Ormond and E. Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: Figures and Landscapes, 1874-1882, New Haven, 2006, vol. IV, pp. 197, 202, 226 and 407, no. 746 (illustrated in color, p. 223).

Exhibited

London, Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of Works by the Late John S. Sargent, R.A., January-March 1926, p. 75, no. 515 (titled Study of Goya in an Arch at San Antonio, Madrid).
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Sargent, Chase, Cassatt: Master Paintings from a Private Collection, July-September 2006.
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art and Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, Sargent and Spain, October 2022-May 2023, pp. 28, 225 and 242, no. 9 (illustrated in color, p. 40).
Montclair Art Museum, A Shared Love: Treasures of American Painting (1878-1919) from the Carol and Terry Wall Collection, May 2024-February 2025.

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Lot Essay

Angels in a Transept, Study After Goya was painted in 1879, during Sargent's stay in Spain that fall. On this trip, the artist dedicated himself to painting works after the Old Masters, as a means of study and furthering his own technique. Among Sargent's most admired masters were Diego Velázquez and Francisco Goya, further demonstrated by Sargent's ownership of numerous volumes of the latter's prints.
The present work depicts the celebrating angels that Goya painted on the arches within the church of San Antonio de la Florida in Madrid. Goya was commissioned to adorn the newly reconstructed building with murals in 1798. Clearly taken by the imagery, Sargent even recommended the church to a friend, writing "At Madrid there is a little church outside the walls all decorated by Goya, St. Antonio de la Florida...Don't judge Goya only by the things at the Prado & the Escorial" (quoted in R. Ormond and E. Kilmurray, op. cit., 2006, p. 223).
Sargent gave the present work as a gift to his friend and biographer, Sir Evan Charteris.

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