Miss Mathilde Townsend

1907

John Singer Sargent

Artist, American, 1856 - 1925

A young woman with pale, peachy skin, wearing a long, silvery blue dress with a rose-pink train looks out at us in this vertical portrait painting. She stands in front of a topaz-blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds, which are shaded with shell pink and light lilac purple. Her body faces our left in profile and she turns her smiling, oval-shaped face to us. She leans her torso slightly forward. Her light brown hair is loosely piled on her head. Her gray-blue eyes are framed by delicate brows, and she has an aquiline nose, rosy cheeks and lips, and a long, elegant neck. Light glints off the dress she wears, suggesting is silk or satin. It has a low, straight neckline and the short, fluttery sleeve we can see falls off her shoulder. A long, billowing swath of light pink fabric is attached to the back of her dress, possibly with a large bow, and it drapes in lively folds down and around the front of her skirt. She holds it lightly with both hands at her thighs. She wears a thin gold bracelet on her left wrist, closer to us, and a silver ring on the third finger of that same hand. The portrait is loosely painted, especially in the clothing, so the texture of the brushstrokes is visible in many areas. The artist signed the work with brick-red paint in the upper left, “John S. Sargent” and dated the upper right, “1907.”

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of the sitter, Mrs. Sumner Welles

  • Dimensions

    overall: 152.7 x 101.6 cm (60 1/8 x 40 in.)
    framed: 182.9 x 132.1 x 15.2 cm (72 x 52 x 6 in.)

  • Accession

    1952.3.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The sitter's mother, Mrs. Richard H. Townsend [d. 1931, née Mary Scott], Washington, D.C.; by inheritance to the sitter, Mathilde Townsend Gerry Welles [1888-1949], Washington, D.C.; bequest 1949 to NGA, with life interest to her husband, Sumner Welles [1892-1961].

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1908

  • Second Exhibition, Oil Paintings by Contemporary Artists, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1908-1909, no. 74, as Portrait of Miss Townsend.

1909

  • 104th Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1909, no. 417, as Portrait of Miss Townsend.

1967

  • Extended loan for use by Blair House, Washington, D.C., 1967-1971.

1974

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Mobile Art Gallery, Alabama, 1974-1975.

1982

  • Extended loan for use by Ambassador Jean B. Gerard, Unesco Ambassador's residence, Paris, France, 1982-1985.

1994

  • The Grand American Avenue: 1850-1920, The Octagon Museum, Washington, D.C.; The Historic New Orleans Collection; The Chicago Architecture Foundation, Harold Washington Library Center, 1994-1995, no cat. entry (NGA painting not shown at fourth venue).

1999

  • Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 73, repro.

2000

  • Extended loan for use by Ambassador Philip Lader, U.S. Embassy residence, London, England, 2000-2001.

2005

  • Extended loan for use by Ambassador Craig R. Stapleton, U.S. Embassy residence, Paris, France, 2005-2009.

2009

  • Extended loan for use by Vice President and Mrs. Joseph Biden, Vice President's House, Washington, D.C., 2009-2015.

Bibliography

1925

  • Downes, William Howe. John S. Sargent: His Life and Work. Boston, 1925: 229.

1927

  • Charteris, Evan. John Sargent. New York: Scribner's, 1927, p. 24.

1956

  • McKibbin, David. Sargent's Boston. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1956: 127.

1969

  • Mount, Charles Merrill. John Singer Sargent: A Biography. Rev. ed. (originally published 1955). New York, 1969: 454.

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 96, repro.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 219, repro.

1981

  • American Portraiture in the Grand Manner: 1720-1920. Exh. cat. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1981: 70, fig. 15.

  • Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 146, repro.

1983

  • Frank, Judy, and Mary Beth Larrabee. The Sulgrave Club's First Fifty Years: An Anniversary Album 1932-1982. Washington, D.C., 1983: 95-97, ill.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 332, repro.

1994

  • Cigliano, Jan, and Sarah Bradford Landau. The Grand American Avenue 1850-1920. Exh. cat. Octagon Museum, Washington, D.C., 1994.

1998

  • Torchia, Robert Wilson, with Deborah Chotner and Ellen G. Miles. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1998: 120-122, color repro.

  • Ormond, Richard, and Elaine Kilmurray. John Singer Sargent: The Later Portraits. The Complete Paintings, Volume III. New Haven and London, 2003: no. 535, repro.

Inscriptions

upper left: John S. Sargent; upper right: 1907

Wikidata ID

Q20191110

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