John Singer Sargent Painting in the Gothic Room
photographer
John Templeman Coolidge
(Boston, 1856 - 1945)
Date1903
Place MadeBoston, Massachusetts, United States, North America
MediumPlatinum print
Dimensions16.2 x 13.7 cm (6 3/8 x 5 3/8 in.)
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberARC.009263
eMuseum ID722988
Other NumberP27w19.2
EmbARK ObjectID18194
TMS Source ID6237
Last Updated9/26/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryJohn Singer Sargent was the first artist-in-residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. During the month of April 1903 he slept in a guest room (now called the Macknight Room) and created new works of art in his temporary studio, the Gothic Room. John Templeman Coolidge, an artist and friend of Isabella’s, took several photographs of Sargent painting the portrait of Gretchen Osgood Warren and her daughter Rachel in the Gothic Room. These candid pictures show Sargent in a whirl of activity with brush and palette in hand—and a cigarette in his mouth. A dark curtain attempts to block the light coming through the stained-glass windows behind the seated pair. Surely delighted with their surroundings, Gretchen and Rachel laugh as Sargent turns to smile at the camera.
BibliographyNotesDavid McKibbin. Sargent's Boston, with an Essay and Biographical Summary and a Complete Check List of Sargent's Portraits (Boston, 1956), pp. 47-50, fig. 34.
Alan Chong. "Mrs. Gardner's museum of myth." Res 52 (Autumn 2007), pp. 212-220, fig. 6.
Colm Tobín. "Henry James, Shadow and Substance" in Colm Tobín et. al. Henry James and American Painting. Exh. cat. (New York: The Morgan Library and Museum, 2017), p. 40, fig. 18.
Christina Nielsen (ed.). Sargent on Location: Gardner's First Artist-in-Residence. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2018), p. 28, ill. p. 31, fig. 18, p. 57, no. 6.
Diana Seave Greenwald, "Who's Laughing in the Gothic Room?" Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 5 May 2020, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/whos-laughing-gothic-room
Nathaniel Silver and Diana Seave Greenwald. Isabella Stewart Gardner: A Life (Boston, 2022), p. 118, fig. 62.
Elizabeth L. Block. Beyond Vanity: The History and Power of Hairdressing (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2024), pp. 75-78, fig 3.13.
Alan Chong. "Mrs. Gardner's museum of myth." Res 52 (Autumn 2007), pp. 212-220, fig. 6.
Colm Tobín. "Henry James, Shadow and Substance" in Colm Tobín et. al. Henry James and American Painting. Exh. cat. (New York: The Morgan Library and Museum, 2017), p. 40, fig. 18.
Christina Nielsen (ed.). Sargent on Location: Gardner's First Artist-in-Residence. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2018), p. 28, ill. p. 31, fig. 18, p. 57, no. 6.
Diana Seave Greenwald, "Who's Laughing in the Gothic Room?" Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 5 May 2020, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/whos-laughing-gothic-room
Nathaniel Silver and Diana Seave Greenwald. Isabella Stewart Gardner: A Life (Boston, 2022), p. 118, fig. 62.
Elizabeth L. Block. Beyond Vanity: The History and Power of Hairdressing (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2024), pp. 75-78, fig 3.13.
ProvenanceNotesProbably a gift from John Templeman Coolidge to Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1903.
John Templeman Coolidge
1903
John Templeman Coolidge
8 August 1904
