Property from the Collection of Linda Leahy and Ian Sargent Leahy
Lot 19
John Singer Sargent(American, 1856-1925)Gordon Fairchild 21 1/4 x 17 1/4in
20 May 2015, 14:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$305,000 inc. premium
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John Singer Sargent (American, 1856-1925)
Gordon Fairchild
oil on canvas
21 1/4 x 17 1/4in
Painted in 1887.
oil on canvas
21 1/4 x 17 1/4in
Painted in 1887.
Footnotes
Provenance
The family of the sitter.
Mr. Sullivan Armory Sargent, Jr. and Mrs. Helen McLeod Sargent (formerly Helen McLeod Fairfield).
Leticia Armory Sargent Leahy, by descent.
By descent to the present owner.
Exhibited
Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, Memorial Exhibition of the Works of John Singer Sargent, November 3-December 27, 1925, n.p., no. 139, listed on addenda (as Head of a Boy).
Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, Sargent's Boston, January 3-February 7, 1956, pp. 67, 95, no. 10.
Literature
R. Ormond and E. Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: The Early Portraits, Complete Paintings, vol. 1, New Haven, Connecticut, 1998, p. 205, no. 201.
John Singer Sargent was born in 1856 in Florence, Italy to American parents living abroad. He spent most of his formative years travelling throughout Europe including Italy, France, Switzerland and Germany. It was not until 1876, when the artist was twenty years old that he first visited the United States. During this trip, Sargent met family, artists and friends and traveled to iconic destinations such as the Hudson River and Niagara Falls. Although much of his life was spent outside of the United States, Sargent regularly worked with fellow American artists in Paris and would later become involved in the Society of American Artists, originally founded as the Association of American Artists.
Sargent's worldliness enabled him to draw inspiration from all that surrounded him. His subjects changed based on his location and the local art was always a source of interest. For example, in Madrid in 1879 he studied works by Velázquez at the Prado and in 1880 in Haarlem he reproduced works by Frans Hals. In each place he visited, Sargent incorporated his surroundings into canvases.
Sargent's return to the United States in 1887 after a number of years abroad was highly anticipated among American socialites and upper class patrons wishing to sit for a portrait. By this time, he had established himself among his peers and word of his talents had reached far beyond Europe. It was on this excursion that Sargent painted the present work, along with the famed portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner from Boston, Massachusetts (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston Massachusetts).
Gordon Fairchild, painted in Newport, Rhode Island in 1887, depicts the youngest child of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fairchild of Boston, Massachusetts. The Fairchilds were among Sargent's closest friends although the origins of that relationship are unknown. In his capacity as a banker, Mr. Fairchild became Sargent's financial advisor. Additionally, the Fairchild family would visit the artist often on both sides of the Atlantic. During this particular visit Sargent would paint other members of the Fairchild family including the sitter's sister, uncle and mother.
Gordon Fairchild is rendered gracefully with the quintessential hallmarks of Sargent's portraiture. These include soft, delicate facial features, varied, rich tonal qualities and visible, spontaneous brushstrokes. The jewel-toned colors stand in marked contrast with the glowing, warm face of the sitter. The brushstrokes throughout appear to have been rapidly applied in layers reminiscent of an Impressionist style. Sargent masterfully captures young Gordon's innocence in this candid portrait.
Although this painting is listed as "unlocated" in the catalogue raisonné, Gordon Fairchild descended within the family of the sitter – and then later, by divorce and remarriage, within a distant extension of the Sargent family.
