John Singer Sargent (Florence, 1856 - 1925, London)
Thomas Whittemore, 1922
Charcoal on paper , 60.3 x 45.1 cm (23 3/4 x 17 3/4 in.)
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This vertical charcoal sketch is of Thomas Whittemore, an American scholar, archeologist, and mutual friend of Isabella Stewart Gardner and John Singer Sargent.Whittemore’s likeness is presented from the mid-chest upward in freely drawn strokes against a plain beige paper background. His face is drawn with detailed precision, his eyes looking off to our left under sparse eyebrows, a slender upturned nose, and thin slightly opened lips, all within a square, yet delicate face. A short, cylindrical peak-less, textured hat covers his hair except for well trimmed, short sideburns coming to the top of his ears, both of which are visible. A collar and the knot of a tie peak out at his neck, wrapped in a smooth-textured scarf tucked into the rougher textured labels of his overcoat. Behind Whittemore’s head the artist has drawn an almost solid mass of heavy vertical lines which frame the sitter’s face and neck. The artist has signed his name, John Singer Sargent, in the lower left corner, and 1922 in the lower left.
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Commentary
Art historian Thomas Whittemore was a close friend to Isabella Stewart Gardner, who shared his interest in early Christian material culture. This charcoal portrait by John Singer Sargent, another dear friend of hers, portrays Whittemore as a dashing figure, his intelligent brow capped by a brimless lambskin hat. As the founder of the Byzantine Institute of America, Whittemore was instrumental to the preservation of the celebrated mosaics at the Aya Sofya in Istanbul, Turkey.