John Singer Sargent (Florence, 1856 - 1925, London)
Study for Eros and Psyche for the Rotunda of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1916-1921
Charcoal on paper , 48 x 63 cm (18 7/8 x 24 13/16 in.)
This horizontal charcoal drawing on off-white paper is a sketch of Eros, a figure from Greek mythology. In this sketch, we see only the naked lower torso and muscular legs of Eros, who is shown upside down and falling downward. Eros’s buttocks and legs are shaded, and one of his knees is bent more than the other. His lower torso is rendered sparingly, in a few lines.
Short Gallery
Commentary
In 1916, John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) met Thomas Eugene McKeller (1890–1962), a young, Black elevator attendant, at Boston’s Hotel Vendome. McKeller posed for most of the figures—both male and female—in Sargent’s murals in the Museum of Fine Arts. The painter transformed McKeller into white gods and goddesses, creating soaring allegories of the liberal arts that celebrated the recent expansion of the city’s premier civic museum. Sargent then gave several preparatory drawings of McKeller to Isabella Stewart Gardner, ensuring their preservation in perpetuity.
Thomas McKeller modeled this figure for a rotunda relief, featuring Eros who plunged out of the heavens and into Psyche’s arms, literally falling in love. Sargent focuses here on McKeller’s muscular legs and shapely torso, reserving the poses of his arms and head for other studies.
Thomas McKeller modeled this figure for a rotunda relief, featuring Eros who plunged out of the heavens and into Psyche’s arms, literally falling in love. Sargent focuses here on McKeller’s muscular legs and shapely torso, reserving the poses of his arms and head for other studies.