Object details
Accession number
P1w20
Creators
Full title
Ethel Smyth
Creation Date
1903
Object Case
Musicians Case
Provenance
Possibly a gift to Isabella Stewart Gardner from Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), a British composer and champion of women’s rights, in March 1903 when she visited Fenway Court with the artist John Singer Sargent (1856-1925).
Marks
Inscribed in white ink (under right elbow): Copyright / A. Dupont
Inscribed in ink (lower right): three bars of music
Signed and dated in ink (lower center): Ethel M Smythe / March 1903
Printed (lower center): Aimé Dupont / 574 Fifth Ave, / N.Y./ Newport, R.I.
Inscribe in pencil (verso upper left): DD2*
Dimensions
27.8 x 20 cm (10 15/16 x 7 7/8 in.)
Display Media
Platinum print
Web Commentary
Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) was the first woman composer to become a Dame of the British Empire; her opera “The Wreckers” is among the most important English operas. She dedicated her talents to supporting her political beliefs: her song “The March of the Women” was the anthem of the women’s suffrage movement. Isabella Stewart Gardner met Smyth through the artist John Singer Sargent and invited her to lunch at the museum in 1903. Gardner supported women’s educational and social advancement, and she undoubtedly admired Smyth’s dedication to her cause.
Permanent Gallery Location
Yellow Room
Rights and reproductions
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