Study of a Seated Male Nude
primary
John Singer Sargent
(Florence, 1856 - 1925, London)
model
Thomas McKeller
(Wilmington, North Carolina, 1890 - 1962, Boston)
Date1916-1921
Place MadeUnited States, North America
MediumCharcoal on paper
Dimensions63.5 x 47.6 cm (25 x 18 3/4 in.)
ClassificationsDrawings
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberS.G.Sar.4.1.4
eMuseum ID723228
EmbARK ObjectID18176
TMS Source ID6222
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.
Sargent captures McKeller in sharp profile, likely during a session devoted to modeling the rotunda’s pairs of nude figures sculpted in plaster. In addition to his face, a birthmark or flap of skin protruding from his chest and visible in other drawings identifies the sitter as McKeller.
Sargent captures McKeller in sharp profile, likely during a session devoted to modeling the rotunda’s pairs of nude figures sculpted in plaster. In addition to his face, a birthmark or flap of skin protruding from his chest and visible in other drawings identifies the sitter as McKeller.
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.
Nathaniel Silver et al. Boston’s Apollo: Thomas McKeller and John Singer Sargent. Exh. cat (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2020), pp. 66-67, 184-85, fig. 32, cat. 4.
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.
Nathaniel Silver et al. Boston’s Apollo: Thomas McKeller and John Singer Sargent. Exh. cat (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2020), pp. 66-67, 184-85, fig. 32, cat. 4.
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 in pencil (lower left): John S. Sargent
Watermark: L. BERVILLE (FRANCE) / Lalanne
Watermark: L. BERVILLE (FRANCE) / Lalanne
ProvenanceNotesProbably a gift from John Singer Sargent to Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1921.
