Object details

Accession number

S27w14

Primary Creator

Augustus Saint-Gaudens (Dublin, 1848 - 1907, Cornish, New Hampshire)

Full title

Medal of John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)

Creation Date

1880

Object Case

Sargent / Whistler Case

Provenance

Gift from Augustus Saint-Gaudens to Isabella Stewart Gardner on 7 November 1887.

Marks

Inscribed, signed and dated (obverse): MY FRIEND JOHN / SARGENT PARIS /IVLY M D C C C LXXX / FECE / A ST G (in monogram)/ BRUTTO / RITRATO

Dimensions

6.1 cm (2 3/8 in.)

Display Media

Bronze

Dimension Notes

Diameter: 6.03 cm (2 3/8 in.)

Web Commentary

Isabella Stewart Gardner greatly admired the work of American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who inscribed this portrait medal to “my friend Sargent” in 1880. Saint-Gaudens also included the words “brutto ritrato” (“crude portrait”) to describe his rendering. The sculptor gave the medal to Gardner in 1887.

Permanent Gallery Location

Long Gallery

Bibliography

Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 249.
Susan West Day. "Two Medals by Saint-Gaudens." Fenway Court, vol. 2, no. 2 (Aug. 1968), pp. 9-16, ill. 12.
Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston: 1977), p. 160, no. 202.
John Dryfhout. The Work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens (Hanover and London, 1982), p. 106, no. 86.
Emamanuelle Héran. Augustus Saint-Gaudens 1848-1907: Un maître de la sculpture américaine. Exh. cat. (Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, 1999), p. 159, no. 60.
Thayer Tolles. American Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born before 1865 (New York, 1999), pp. 262-63, no. 114.
Tanya Karpiak. "The medallic secrets of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum." The Medal (Autumn 2014), pp. 17-19, fig. 7.

---

Rights and reproductions

The use of images, text, and all other media found on this website is limited. Please review Rights and Reproductions for details.