4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2023.

Images(2)

The Countess of Lathom

Artist John Singer Sargent (American, 1856-1925)

CultureAmerican

Date1904

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions89 3/4 x 67 5/8 in. (228 x 171.8 cm)
Overall, Frame: 99 x 76 3/4 in. (251.5 x 194.9 cm)

InscribedSigned, upper right corner: John S. Sargent 1904

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.502

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 218

DescriptionThis is a large oil on canvas painting. It is a full-length portrait of a seated lady. She wears a deep plum colored dress, which contrasts her pearly white skin. Her neck and face are long and slender. Her hair is pulled up on her head. Her right hand holds a delicate handkerchief, elbow resting on the arm of the chair. Her left arm rests on the chair dangling a gold chain in her fingers. Her dress is trimmed with gauzy light colored material. The setting is a dark room near a fireplace. The background is shadowed.

Label TextJohn Singer Sargent American, 1856–1925 The Countess of Lathom, 1904 Oil on canvas “Ask me to paint your gates, your fences, your barns, which I should gladly do, but not the human face,” begged John Singer Sargent after completing this picture of Lady Wilma Pleydell-Bouverie Bootle-Wilbraham, Countess of Lathom (1869–1931)—“Queenie” for short. Such privileged clients adored Sargent’s vigorous, gestural brushstrokes for the modern but elegant energy they brought to traditional portraiture. These commissions generated income and prestige, but Sargent sought more creative projects. He later turned exclusively to painting landscapes and allegorical murals for grand public buildings. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.502 ProvenanceEdward George (1864-1910), 2nd Earl of Lathom, husband of the sitter; Edward William (1895-1930), 3rd Earl of Lathom, son of the sitter; Marie Xenia, Countess of Lathom, his widow [on loan to the Tate Gallery, London, ca. 1926-1930]; sold by her to Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach, Philadelphia, 1930; sale of the property of the Rosenbach Company, Philadelphia, by Parke-Bernet, New York, Nov. 11-14, 1942, no. 609; International Business Machines Corporation, New York, by 1954 and still in that collection in 1963; sold to Hirschl & Adler, New York, 1968; sold to Mrs. Mimi Bloch, New York, 1969; Shickman Galleries, New York; Jack Tanzer, New York, 1969; M. Knoedler and Co., New York, May 11, 1972 (A9551); Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., New York, September 27, 1973; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1971. Exhibition History"Royal Academy," London, England, 1904, no. 175. Liverpool, England, 1904, no. 1013 Liverpool, England, 1925, no. 132 On loan at the National Gallery, Millbank, London, England. "Exhibition of the Works of the Late John S. Sargent, R.A.," Royal Academy, London, England, Winter exhibition, 1926, no. 583. "Tate Gallery," London, England, 1926-1930. Union League Club, New York, N.Y., 1930, no. 17. "Sargent, Whistler, and Mary Cassatt," Art Institute of Chicago, Ill., January 14 - February 25, 1954; Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y., March 25 - May 23, 1953. (Exh. cat. no. 64) "Realism: An American Heritage," IBM Gallery, New York, N.Y., January 14 - February 1, 1963. (Exh. cat. no. 49) "Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. "Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk," Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville, June 12 - September 5, 1977. (Exh. cat. no. 44) "Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006. Published ReferencesLewis Lusk, "The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1904," _Art Journal_ (1904), 181. Roger Fry, "Fine Arts - The Royal Academy," _Athenaeum_, no. 3993 (May 7, 1904), 598. (quoted in Downes publication, below). "The Royal Academy - I," _Graphic_ (April 30, 1904), 591. H.S., "Art. The Academy. - II," Spectator (May 7, 1904), 730. William Howe Downes, _John S. Sargent, His Life and Work: with an Exhaustive Catalogue of his Works_ (London: Thornton Butterworth, 1926), 59, 214. _Exhibition of Works by the Late John S. Sargent, R.A._, exh. cat., Royal Academy, London, England, 1926, 84. Hon. Evan E. Charteris K.C., _John Sargent_ (London: William Heinemann, 1927), 271. "Portrait of the Countess of Lathom," _Art News_ 28, no. 40 (September 13, 1930): 14. Auction Sale Catalog, sale of the property of the Rosenbach Company, Philadelphia, by Parke-Bernet, New York, November 11 - 14, 1942, no. 609. "A New World; Art of the Americas," _Art News Annual_, XVIII, New York, 1948, 17. Frederick A. Sweet, _Sargent, Whistler, and Mary Cassatt_, exh. cat., The Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ill. and N.Y., 1954, 64-66. Charles Merrill Mount, _John Singer Sargent_ (New York, 1955), 438, no. O45. David McKibbin, "Check List of Sargent's Portraits," _Sargent's Boston_, exh. cat., Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Mass., 1956, 105. Richard Ormond, _John Singer Sargent: Paintings, Drawings, Watercolors_ (New York: Harper & Row, 1970), 64, 66, 253, plate 95. Dennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975, 163-164. Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya, _Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._, exh. cat., Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville, Tenn., 1977, no. 44. _John Singer Sargent: His Own Work_, exh. cat., intro. by Warren Adelson, checklist by Meg Robertson, New York, 1980, not paged. ISBN: 0815009119 _The Chrysler Museum: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Norfolk, Virginia_, (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1982), 92. ISBN: 0-940744-37-6 Carter Ratcliff, _John Singer Sargent_ (New York: Abbeville Press, 1982), 184, fig. 268. ISBN: 089659307X, 0896600149 Gary A. Reynolds, "Sargent and the Grand Manner Portrait," _Magazine Antiques_ 130 (November 1986): 983, 985-986, plate IX. Joyce M. Szabo, "American Art - 1875-1913" _Gallery Guide_ (Norfolk: The Chrysler Museum, 1986), no. 2. John Singer Sargent, _The Age of Elegance: The Paintings of John Singer Sargent_ (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996). ISBN: 0714835447 Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, _John Singer Sargent: The Later Portraits_ Volume III (New Haven: Yale University for The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2003), 4, 121-122, 125, 293, no. 465. ISBN: 0300098065 Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 124-125, no. 75. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6