Israel and the Law (Study for Boston Public Library Mural)

Images(4)

Israel and the Law (Study for Boston Public Library Mural)

Artist John Singer Sargent American, 1856–1925

Datecirca 1908

MediumOil with graphite on canvas

Dimensionsheight and width: 37 3/4 × 59 1/4 in. (95.9 × 150.5 cm)
height, width, and depth: 47 1/4 × 75 1/4 × 7 1/4 in. (120 × 191.1 × 18.4 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineAnonymous gift in memory of Jane Cole Worsley

Object number2010.10

On View

On view

Provenance**Created London, ca. 1908; collection of the artist; [estate sale, Christie’s, London, July 27, 1926, no. 168] [1]; Grace Nichols (1874–1944), Boston (married Dr. Richard Pearson Strong, 1936); to sister, Mrs. Edwin Farnham Green (née Charlotte Peabody Nichols) (1879–1955), 1944 (?); to son, John Gardner Greene, by 1955; given to Joseph Coletti (1898–1973), Boston [2]; by descent; [William Vareika Fine Arts, Newport, RI, by 1990 (unsold, returned to owner)]; [Vose Galleries, Boston, by 2004]; Private collection, Nashua, NH, later Tarboro, NC, 2007; given to NCMA, 2010.

[1] As Israel Learning the Law.
[2] Sargent’s assistant on the Boston Public Library Mural.
Published ReferencesPossibly "Fine Arts: The Royal Academy (First Notice)," The Athenaeum (London), May 1, 1909, 535. (NOTE: either this study or more likely the related study now in the collection of the Royal Academy.)

Possibly Rudolf Dircks, "The Royal Academy and New Gallery Exhibitions," Art Journal (June, 1909), 166. (NOTE: either this study or more likely the related study now in the collection of the Royal Academy.)

Pictures & Drawings of the Late John Singer Sargent, R.A. (London: Christie, Manson & Woods, 1925), 25.

"Exhibition of Studies by John S, Sargent," Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) 25 (August 1927), 49-50.

Charles Merrill Mount, John Singer Sargent: A Biography (New York: W. W. Norton, 1955): p. 449 (K0915, dated 1909, collection of Mrs. C. Nichols Greene).

David McKibben, Sargent's Boston with an Essay & a Biographical Summary & a Complete Check List of Sargent's Portraits (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1956), 71.

[William Vareika Fine Arts advertisement], Antiques 137 (January 1990), 63, Illus. (color).

Elaine Kilmurray and Richard Ormond, eds., John Singer Sargent (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998, 199-200 (mentioned in Mary
Crawford- Volk's discussion of the Royal Academy study).

Sally Promey, Painting Religion in Public: John Singer Sargent's "Triumph of Religion" at the Boston Public Library (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2001).

Mary Crawford-Volk, The Evocative Line: Preparatory Sketches for "Israel And the Law" by John Singer Sargent (Boston: Vose Galleries, 2004),
1-20, illus. (b-w) fig. 5.

Vose Galleries, Art Notes 12 (Winter 2004), illus. (color) cover, detail 8.

Vose Galleries, Art Notes: Special Edition (Fall 2006), 62, illus. (color).

Narayan Khandeker, et al., eds., John Singer Sargent's "Triumph of Religion" at the Boston Public Library: Creation and Restoration (Cambridge:
Harvard University Art Museum, 2009) 62-63, 66-67, n.33-34, 128, 133, 135 n.45-46; illus. 147-148 (figs. 6.37-39), 152, 156 n.58-62, 166.

Yonat Shimron, "Sargent painting donated to N.C. Museum of Art," in The News & Observer (March 4, 2012), discussed and illus. (b-w) 3D.
Exhibition HistoryPossibly London, Royal Academy of Arts, "Annual Exhibition," 1909, no. 446 (NOTE: either this study or more likely the related study now in the collection of the Royal Academy).

Boston, MA, Museum of Fine Arts, "Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the Late John Singer Sargent," November 3-December 27, 1925 (lent by Grace Nichols).

Boston, MA, Museum of Fine Arts, "John Singer Sargent, 1856-925: Studies and Preliminary Work for Decorations in the Boston Public Library and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Groups of Selected Studies and Drawings," June 1927-January 1928; then traveling to New York, Grand Central Art Galleries, February 14-March 3, 1928 (lent by Grace Nichols).

Boston, MA, Museum of Fine Arts, "Sargent's Boston," January 3-February 7, 1956, no. 79 (as Oil sketch for Israel learning the Law, lent by the Estate of Charlotte Nichols Greene).

Newport, RI, William Vareika Fine Arts, "American Art of Three Centuries," Winter 1990.

Boston, MA, Vose Galleries, "The Evocative Line: Preparatory Sketches for 'Israel and the Law' by John Singer Sargent," September 1-October 16, 2004, no. 1, illus. (b-w) fig. 5.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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