Study of a Seated Male in a Roundel
primary
John Singer Sargent
(Florence, 1856 - 1925, London)
printer
A. W. Elson & Co.
(active Boston, 1894 - 1925)
model
Thomas McKeller
(Wilmington, North Carolina, 1890 - 1962, Boston)
Date1921
Place MadeUnited States, North America
MediumCollotype print on blue-grey paper
Dimensions58.5 x 47.6 cm (23 1/16 x 18 3/4 in.)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberS.G.Sar.4.1.1
eMuseum ID723539
EmbARK ObjectID18173
TMS Source ID6219
Last Updated8/9/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryIn 1916, John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) met Thomas Eugene McKeller (1890–1962), a young, Black elevator attendant, at Boston’s Hotel Vendome. McKeller posed for most of the figures—both male and female—in Sargent’s murals in the Museum of Fine Arts. The painter transformed McKeller into white gods and goddesses, creating soaring allegories of the liberal arts that celebrated the recent expansion of the city’s premier civic museum. Sargent then gave several preparatory drawings of McKeller to Isabella Stewart Gardner, ensuring their preservation in perpetuity.
Following the murals’ completion, the Museum of Fine Arts reproduced several of Sargent’s drawings and sold them in the museum shop. Thomas McKeller posed for this one, not preparatory for any single figure in the final paintings but perhaps a souvenir or commemoration of the project.
Following the murals’ completion, the Museum of Fine Arts reproduced several of Sargent’s drawings and sold them in the museum shop. Thomas McKeller posed for this one, not preparatory for any single figure in the final paintings but perhaps a souvenir or commemoration of the project.
BibliographyNotesRollin van N. Hadley (ed.). Drawings: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1968), p. 52.
Alan Chong et al. (eds.). Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), p. 223. (as a drawing)
Nathaniel Silver et al. Boston’s Apollo: Thomas McKeller and John Singer Sargent. Exh. cat (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2020), pp.178-79, cat. 1.
Nathaniel Silver, "Thomas Eugene McKeller, John Singer Sargent, and Isabella Stewart Gardner," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 12 May 2020, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/thomas-mckeller-john-singer-sargent-isabella-stewart-gardner
Alan Chong et al. (eds.). Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), p. 223. (as a drawing)
Nathaniel Silver et al. Boston’s Apollo: Thomas McKeller and John Singer Sargent. Exh. cat (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2020), pp.178-79, cat. 1.
Nathaniel Silver, "Thomas Eugene McKeller, John Singer Sargent, and Isabella Stewart Gardner," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 12 May 2020, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/thomas-mckeller-john-singer-sargent-isabella-stewart-gardner
MarksNotesSigned within roundel (lower left): John S. Sargent.
Watermark: MICHALLET / FRANCE
Watermark: MICHALLET / FRANCE
ProvenanceNotesProbably a gift from John Singer Sargent to Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1921.
