Blonde Model

c. 1877

Sargent studied painting in the Paris studio of Carolus-Duran, demonstrating a mastery of his teacher’s virtuoso technique in this sketch. With broad brushstrokes, he translated three-dimensional forms into planes of light and dark, suggesting the general mass of the model’s hair while defining her features more precisely. The inscription in the upper left indicates that Sargent gave this work to his friend, the painter Georges Lacombe.

Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	17 15/16 x 14 15/16 in. (45.6 x 37.9 cm)
Object Number	1955.574
Acquisition	Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status	Off View

Image Caption

John Singer Sargent, Blonde Model, c. 1877, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, 1955.574

Select Bibliography

Ormond, Richard and Elaine Kilmurray. Figures and Landscapes, 1874-1882. Vol. IV of John Singer Sargent: Complete Paintings. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. 2006. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Seven: The Regency and Louis XVI Rooms. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1957. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Four & Exhibit Seven. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1958. Simpson, Marc, et al. Uncanny Spectacle: The Public Career of the Young John Singer Sargent. Exhibition catalogue. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press; Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1997. Minchin, Hamilton. "Some Early Recollections of Sargent." Contemporary Review 127 (June 1925). Charteris, Evan. John Sargent. London: William Heineman, Ltd., 1927. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972. Ratcliff, Carter. John Singer Sargent. New York: Abbeville Press, 1982. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984. Hills, Patricia. John Singer Sargent. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art in association with Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1986. Conrads, Margaret C. American Paintings and Sculpture at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1990. Veronique Weisinger, ed.. Le voyage de Paris. Les américains dans les écoles d'art, 1868-1918.. Paris: Réunion des Mus^es nationaux.. 1990.. Weinberg, H. Barbara. The Lure of Paris: Nineteenth-Century American Painters and Their French Teachers. New York: Abbeville Press, 1991. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. Ormond, Richard. John Singer Sargent: Paintings, Drawings, and Watercolors. London: Phaidon Press, 1970. Sorgini, Antongiulio. A Blonde Model Objectified. Course paper, Art History 555: John Singer Sargent, Graduate Program in the History of Art, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, 2011. Sorgini, Antongiulio. A Blonde Model Objectified. Course paper, Art History 555: John Singer Sargent, Graduate Program in the History of Art, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, 2011. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Paintings on Exhibition, July 1968. Exhibition brochure. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1968.