Ethel Smyth
photographer
Aimé Dupont Studio
(American, active 1886 - 1950s)
photographer
Etta Greer Dupont
(American, active 1900 - 1920)
subject
Ethel Smyth
(London, 1858 - 1944, Woking, Surrey)
Date1903
Place MadeNew York City, New York, United States, North America
MediumPlatinum print
Dimensions27.8 x 20 cm (10 15/16 x 7 7/8 in.)
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberP1w20
eMuseum ID727761
EmbARK ObjectID24418
TMS Source ID8912
Last Updated9/17/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryEthel Smyth (1858-1944) was the first woman composer to become a Dame of the British Empire; her opera “The Wreckers” is among the most important English operas. She dedicated her talents to supporting her political beliefs: her song “The March of the Women” was the anthem of the women’s suffrage movement. Isabella Stewart Gardner met Smyth through the artist John Singer Sargent and invited her to lunch at the museum in 1903. Gardner supported women’s educational and social advancement, and she undoubtedly admired Smyth’s dedication to her cause.
BibliographyNotesAna Barrett, "Ethel Smyth: Composer and Activist," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 22 March 2022, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/ethel-smyth-composer-and-activist
MarksNotesInscribed in white ink (under right elbow): Copyright / A. Dupont
Inscribed in ink (lower right): three bars of music
Signed and dated in ink (lower center): Ethel M Smythe / March 1903
Printed (lower center): Aimé Dupont / 574 Fifth Ave, / N.Y./ Newport, R.I.
Inscribe in pencil (verso upper left): DD2*
Inscribed in ink (lower right): three bars of music
Signed and dated in ink (lower center): Ethel M Smythe / March 1903
Printed (lower center): Aimé Dupont / 574 Fifth Ave, / N.Y./ Newport, R.I.
Inscribe in pencil (verso upper left): DD2*
ProvenanceNotesPossibly a gift to Isabella Stewart Gardner from Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), a British composer and champion of women’s rights, in March 1903 when she visited Fenway Court with the artist John Singer Sargent (1856-1925).
