Inscribed at upper right: To my friend Mrs. Gardner / John S. Sargent

Made just two years before her death, this watercolor depicts Gardner after she suffered a debilitating stroke at the age of eighty-two. Swaths of fabric envelope her figure, but cannot disguise her physical frailty. On the other hand, the piercing gaze attests to Gardner’s resilient spirit and curiosity. Sargent’s sensitivity to his subject no doubt stemmed from his long and close friendship with Gardner. Sargent made the portrait in the Macknight Room at Fenway Court on 14 September 1922 and presented it to her twelve days later.

Source: Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 225.

Given by the artist, 1922.