fashioned by Sargent
Nov. 16th, 2023 05:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yamamanamaI rode one of those new new red line trains for the first time. That beeping sure is annoying. And they seem to have less seat capacity. And the interior is uncannily different from the previous types, from the color scheme to the lack of advertisements and maps of the entire MBTA system (for fuck’s sake, this isn’t New York) the windows to the too-wide doors (I guess you could get more people in at a time. Or if your wheelchair has tank treads). It might be possible to get a best of both worlds situation.
Kate and Allie, who both had heart pendants, were playing Wordle and I thought they were talking about Mastermind. Kinley said to Emily “sit on my lap.” but she could just move the seat into position instead.
I saw three exhibits: Strong Women in Renaissance Italy, which was mostly taken from the MFA's collection; Otherworldly Realms of Wu Junyong, and Fashioned by Sargent, a collaboration with the Tate.
Barbara Longhi - Virgin and Child
in the renaissance, Mary’s milk was the bond between mother and child and so shrines in Italy had relics of her milk, which would probably be cheese or yogurt. In the 16th century, depictions of Mary breastfeeding Jesus were discouraged because this might inspire lust in men.
Sofonisba Anguissola
her hand covers the word virgo and turns it into vir.
Lavinia Fontana
the reason the shape is so odd is because it was probably a protective panel on a crib or for a mother-to-be to contemplate.
Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi - Cleopatra
When Cleopatra reigned as queen
with Roman leaders she was often seen
but when she had no ruling friend
she found a poison snake to bite her in the end
(a bite down there I really wouldn’t recommend)
Alfonso Patanazzi - Plate illustrtaed with the Reconciliation of the Romans and the Sabines
There’s a metaphor in there somewhere.
Antonio Minello de’Bardi - bust of a classical heroine
This is from a private collection. We don’t know what her story is.
Table cover, 17th century Italy
Length of velvet, late 15th century Florence
Découpé folding fan, definitely made in the 1590s, not sure if Italy or France. Or maybe Nizza, which was first one, then the other.
Eight woodcuts from De gli habiti antichi et moderni di diversi parti del mondo
This is what Italian fashions of the 1590s were like across social classes and locales.
Embroidered picture of the Pietà.
You could listen to the following works:
Maddalena Casulana - Vagh’amorisi augelli
Raffaela Aleotti - Audivi vocem de caelo
Marchetto Cara - Tante volte, si, si, si
Sulpitia Cesis - Puer qui natus est
Eleanora d’Este - Salve sponsa Dei
Saint Mary Magdalen Surrounded By Angels
Bernardo Daddi - The Crucifixion
Probably made for private use in a home or convent.
Titian - Saint Catherine of Alexandria
Catherine is identified by a shattered wheel and a sword
Ludovico Carracci - Portrait of a Widow
Andrea Andreani - Woman Contemplating a Skull
Both the skull and the clock are reminders that everyone dies eventually. Even stars will one day burn out.
otherworldly realms of Wu Junyong:
sunrise (日出)
lion and tiger struggle for supremacy (狮虎争霸)
lions and tigers rarely encounter each other in the wild. Despite lions being kinda derpy especially in those dumb Palmyrene lion statues, the tiger is meant to look cuter and more likable. Tiger images are used in China to protect from evil.
horse, horse, tiger, tiger (马马虎虎)
which is a Chinese idiom meaning “not great, but not awful either.” The figures are meant to look like a bit like their logograph.
lion and tiger (狮虎)
literature class: snake swallowing elephant (语学课蛇吞象)
a chinese idiom meaning someone biting off more than they can chew, which is itself an idiom.
bodhidharma (达摩)
According to legend, he came from India to China where he lived in a cave and meditated staring at a wall for nine years. The inscription syas “wishing for peace and safety for all in this troubled world”
man meditating at the entrance of a cave (禅坐洞窗的男子)
he’s completely unfazed by the rain and wind and finding peace listening to the sounds of the nature. There are ears on the cave walls and rocks.
self-consuming man in a cave (洞内自啖男子)
“holding the waterfall in his hands, it slips between his legs.”
youth grasping an octopus (手?章鱼的少年)
ugh, since they’re not exact translations, it’s difficult to get the Chinese name.
moonrise (月升)
the tiger and the moon are yin and the lion and the sun are yang. See, I can understand that because a cartoon lion’s mane looks a lot like a cartoon sun. Especially if you put sunglasses on the lion.
PS: don’t try that in real life.
the man who has fallen into a cave (洞内坠地男子)
he made this to honor his friend who took his life.
the man surrounded by rumors (被谣言围绕的人)
“indistinct murmurs in the human brain. There are demons inside and outside the room.”
Google is really amazing at assuming what you’re doing and then not actually acknowledging you out of spite or getting really picky about your stroke order.
man playing with eggs (玩蛋的人)
Yeah, sure, eggs.
the story of fire (火的故事)
Here we have Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man and was punished by having his liver eaten by an eagle and Houyi, who shot nine of the ten suns out of the sky when they all showed up at once and burnt the Earth to cinders. Below, we have a prehistoric human rubbing a stick on a stone.
youth playing a pipe in a forest (林中吹笛少年)
the crane is a symbol of longevity
Fashioned by Sargent:
House of Worth - Lady Sassoon’s opera cloak, about 1890.
This photo looks like shit. I’m sorry about that.
Lady Sassoon (Aline de Rothshild)
Sargent liked to work in black on black.
Madame Ramón Subercaseaux (Amalia Errázuriz)
The room is furnished in the Aesthetic Movement style. Sargent arranged everything himself.
Sargent favored dark suits for men and black or white for women.
Mrs. Edward L. Davis (Maria Robbins) and her Son, Livingston Davis
Ena and Betty, Daughters of Asher and Mrs. Wertheimer
Maker once known - fan
Edith, Lady Playfair (Edith Russell)
Eleanora O’Donnell Iselin (Mrs. Adrian Iselin)
Rather than pick out a fashionable Parisian gown for her to wear, he instead painted her in the casual-ish day dress she was wearing.
Édouard Pailleron
He was also painted in what would be considered casual wear at the time.
Wealthy people would have three or even four outfits for a day.
Helen Sears
Miss Elsie Palmer, or A Lady in White.
Mrs. Hugh Hammersley (Mary Frances Grant)
A character in the recent television series The Gilded Age wears a take on this dress.
She saved a piece of the gown afterwards. The one thing I didn’t like about the exhibit is that they didn’t have (replica) fabric samples you could touch. Well, that and the lack of Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose.
Mrs. Robert Harrison (Helen Smith)
This was considered “eccentric” and “violently keyed” and “convey[ed] her to the regions of Mephistopheles” by the London press but maybe that’s because they didn’t like her.
Maker once known - hat ornament
it just says bird of paradise feathers so maybe it isn’t a stuffed bird. That caused some, ahem, problems.
Mrs. Fiske Warren (Gretchen Osgood) and her daughter Rachel.
This was painted in the Gardner Museum. Somehow the MFA ended up with it instead. Supposedly Gretchen planned on wearing a green velvet gown but Sargent told her that pink would contrast nicely with the reds and golds of the room. Gretchen borrowed a gown from her sister-in-law and Rachel just had a sheet of pink fabric draped over her.
Mrs. Edward Darley Boit (Mary Louisa Cushing)
Polkadots? Scandalous! The painting of her daughters are where they usually are.
House of Worth - Evening dress
I got a somewhat crappier picture with a guy in 2020s fashion behind it but in this photo, you can actually see the pearl detailing.
Mrs. Joshua Montgomery Sears (Sarah Choate Sears)
Jean-Philippe Worth - Evening dress
Puffy sleeves were the rage in the 1890s.
L. Perchellet - pair of women’s shoes
House of Worth - Walking dress
Well to do people would have four, even five, different outfits for a day. Morning, walking, playing tennis, dinner parties, and so on.
Mrs. Charles Thursby (Alice Brisbane)
The color scheme, green, purple, and white, could be a nod to the suffrage movement which THE TERFS FUCKING HIJACKED. EVEN THOUGH NOTHING THAT THEY HAVE DONE, AT ANY JUNCTURE IN TIME, HAS IN ANY WAY BENEFITED WOMEN.
Vernon Lee
That was Violet Paget’s pen name.
W. Graham Roberston
It was high summer when Sargent painted this.
I think that’s a dog behind him but I’m not entirely sure. Could be a very fluffy cat. Could be a chupacabra with socks.
Lord Ribblesdale
Riding clothing. Of course the capcha meant that blob would finally rear its ugly pseudopod. It’s bad enough that I’m training self-driving cars.
But I think my upper limit on how many images to post at a time is 20.
Cocksey and Co. Hatters
By the 1830s, beavers had become endangered and hatters would have to make top hats from silk plush. There was much less lead involved as well.
Friedman Sternheimer - Folding fan
Sir Philip Sassoon
Son of Aline and Edward
If you’re wondering, because I was, they are related to Seigfried Sassoon.
The Reconciliation in Dona Nobis Pacem is Whitman, not Sassoon, but they both have the theme of putting the war behind us.
Miss Jane Evans
Her only status symbol is the gold fob-chain.
There are names on the paneling behind her.
Ena Wertheimer: A Vele Gonfie
Which is Italian for full sail, an idiom meaning with gusto.
Jewish people in Britain were outsiders and were thus unrestrained by the conventions and rules of the British upper class.
Dr. Pozzi at Home
Sargent instead decided to portray him in a robe.
Maker once known - Coat (Entari)
Sargent collected garments to be used in his paintings.
In those days, though the Ottoman Empire (or Austria-Hungary or the Russian Empire) was not long for the world, or maybe because of that, their aesthetics were fashionable in western Europe.
We were talking about this in a LaurentheFlute stream and we came to the collective conclusion that wearing a kimono, for example, is fine because it’s just clothing, but wearing a Native American feather headdress is the equivalent of wearing a whole bunch of military medals that you didn’t earn.
Maker once known - Costume for Carmen Dauset Moreno
Sargent just kept it.
La Carmencita (Carmen Dauset Moreno)
Javanese Dancer
This was painted at the 1889 World’s Fair, which the monarchies of Europe boycotted because it was commemorating the French Revolution, at a showcase of various colonial cultures. The Dutch brought over sixty Javanese craftspeople, musicians, and dancers for people to gawk at. The guy from Senegal was particularly offended because they depicted them living in mud huts.
It wasn’t the first time this happened.
The dancer has two left hands to suggest motion.
It’s an unfinished sketch for something that never came to fruition.
We know their names: Sarkiyem, Tuminah, Sukiayah, and Wakiyem, but nothing else. Sargent did his best to make her a real person and not just a simulacrum.
Almina, Daughter of Asher Wertheimer
Stereotypes of the time associated Jews with the mysterious East.
Robert Louis Stevenson and his Wife (Francis Van de Grift Osbourne)
Stevenson wears a velveteen jacket, and Fanny is dressed as an “Indian princess, one blaze of gold and white lace.” Asian and Middle Eastern clothing were seen as an escape from Victorian cultures.
Alice Laura Comyns-Carr
Beetle Wing Dress for Lady Macbeth
The dress has actual beetle elytra sewn on to it, most likely molted.
Ellen Terry
Her eyes look somewhat deranged. But then again, she is Lady Macbeth. The pose she’s doing never happened in the play.
Albert de Belleroche
Sargent’s friend, or maybe more than that.
Charles Steward, Sixth Marquess of Londonderry, Carrying the Great Sword of State of the Coronation of Edward VII, August 1902, and Mr. W.C. Beaumont His Page on That Occasion.
He didn’t paint Edward VII at his coronation. Here we see Charles Stewart reenacting it.
Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau [Virginie Amélie Avegno])
This was considered a faux pas and then a symbol of Americans toppling the social order.
Afterward, he modified the painting so that the strap looked more securely fastened.
Mrs. Leopold Hirsch (Mathilde Seligman)
This is merely a similar fabric and the lace is from a 17th century men’s cravat, the predecessor to a necktie. The textile in “bizarre” design was made around 1700.
Sir Frank (Athelstane) Swettenham
High Commissioner of the Malay States. The commissioned portrait is in Singapore. This one was made for Swettenham’s personal use.
Maker once known - Evening dress
Sargent sometimes takes liberties, or maybe the dress was modified to be more fashionable or to be refitted. The dress has detachable panels to make room for her pregnant body.
Mrs. Charles E. Inches (Louise Pomeroy)
Mrs. Carl Meyer (Adèle Levis) and Her Children, Frank Cecil and Elsie Charlotte
The elites and aristoi in not just Europe but in America weren’t exactly pleased about Jewish people making money.
I once had a thought about right wingers being less capitalist in Europe. In America, the right will tolerate the existence of a few wealthy Jews or non-whites, that’s just the price we pay. In Europe, the aristocracy already exists and we can’t have just anyone encroaching on it.
The Countess of Rocksavage (Sybil Sassoon)
The dress may make them think of portraits of Spanish queens but it makes me think she’s going to toss a wine glass on the floor and opine on the nature of man.
Colonel Ian Hamilton, C.B., D.S.O.
This was commissioned to commemorate the storming of the Dargai Heights in what is now Pakistan.
I just like the contrast of his coat with his red uniform.
John D. Rockefeller
Despite his enormous wealth, he’s dressed in very modest clothing.
A long time ago, I found an article about what our ultrarich eat and Bezos probably has the fanciest thing on there while the rest of them are either boring or have eccentric ways of eating mundane things.
By 1917, Sargent had given up his portrait practice but agreed to paint Rockefeller, donating all proceeds to the Red Cross.
Lady Helen Vincent, Vicountess d’Abernon
I can’t read that. It probably has some cool insights on the painting but you’ll never know.
Mrs. Frank Millet (Elizabeth Merrill)
Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (Gertrude Vernon)
Lady Agnew entertained frequently and, like Mithridates the Lone, in life, loved music, but she had a poor constitution and so Sargent had to paint her in only six sessions.
The Black Brook
Sargent’s niece
I once took a watercolor class with someone who said she was related to Sargent. Damned if I can remember anything but her surname. Not even her actual name. Probably Caitlin. After all, it was a long time ago. Back when Burrito Max was a place in Kenmore Square.
For what it’s worth, Sargent didn’t have any brothers that I am aware of.
The Morning Walk
Sargent’s sister. This was done during Sargent’s impressionist phase and I can definitely see the Monet influence in this painting.
Femme en barque (Lady in a boat)
Our subject here is unidentified
Charles Deering
I thought this was painted in the Cayman Islands but it’s just Florida.
Group with Parasols (A Siesta)
Lady Fishing–Mrs. Ormond (Violet Sargent)
The Pink Dress
Sargent’s niece
Cashmere
they’re all the same person in different poses. You can tell by the face.
Nonchaloir (Repose)
Technically, it means indifference.
Which might be a pun based on the French word châle, or shawl.
Two Girls in White Dresses
Sybil Sassoon
He’s trying to evoke the painter Godfrey Kneller, painter of many a British monarch and noble.
The Chess Game
In 1905, Sargent traveled throughout the Ottoman Empire, or what was left of it, with thoughts of the mural . You know, I think the biggest losers of World War I were the Arabs. They revolt against the Ottomans only to end up broken up into French and British zones of control (the British ended up with most of the oil), and then, of course, they fucked up the creation of a Jewish state, and then the Russians fucked them over. And I like how now, in modern times, they’re trying to rehabilitate the fucking Nazis. Spoiler alert: the Grand Khazi of Jerusalem was a nobody. Nazi Germany and their client states did it all themselves. Sorry, Gaza, your living space will be cut in half in order to make the world a slightly more comfortable place for people who erenow have never been east of İstanbul. Can’t wait for this war ends. Sorry, Jerry, you’ll have to go back to being insufferable about Olivia Rodrigo. Anyways, after that, he found himself in the Italian Alps with a brand new haul of clothing. Sargent’s niece is playing against Sargent’s valet.
In a Garden, Corfu
By 1909, that dress was horridly unfashionable.
This is the shawl itself.
I don’t think the word cashmere came to us via French. It was probably just an archaic spelling of kashmir. She only knew it from the song. I know it from the song and yet another British Empire fuckup. Kashmir got the option of “you can join India, you can join Pakistan, or you can remain an independent polity that will probably get absorbed into one or the other or maybe China if they ever get their shit together,” which they did a year later (I don’t know what the Kashmiris think but had the other China won, I’d be happy to join them). If they join India, they’ll piss everyone off. If they join Pakistan, they’ll have to give up their power. It’s a bit like the Bengal, a Hindu elite ruling over the Muslim masses. Only with less fascism and Hitler-worship. Think Asit Krishna Mukherji and Subhas Chandra Bose. Both Bengali elites. They went with the third option. Let’s be neutral. Like Switzerland! Since we’re all mountainy, nobody’s going to want to take us over anyway. Unfortunately, while Switzerland’s greatest resources are chocolate bars and cuckoo clocks, Jammu and Kashmir is India’s sole source of borax and sapphire.
Nowadays, it’s de facto split between the three. Pakistan keeps trying to spark a revolution and it always fails but in 2019, Modi’s India did a dumb and pissed off pretty much everyone there. It’s like they didn’t learn from Cyprus. Maybe Modi needs to do a meticulous analysis of history.
I’m pleasantly surprised that Modi hasn’t caused India to break down into its constituent parts yet.
Well, maybe not pleasantly surprised. Surprised, anyway. Well, maybe pleasantly because I thought he’d do it by getting in a war with China and/or Pakistan.
I had a dream where Pakistan was integrated into India. Also Indonesia was really big and lopsided.
Maybe dreams can come true but that one certainly won’t. I do think India and Pakistan should have a Battle of the Bands because then everyone wins.
I had for lunch/dinner a panini on sourdough with chickpeas, arugula, olive tapenade, roasted red peppers, and zucchini.
Not enough olive tapenade but otherwise really good. The girl next to me was singing her take on Jingle Bell Rock only it was about Batman. When they left, two people speaking what I think is Arabic sat next to me.
At the table to the other side was someone visiting from Connecticut, which is the New Jersey of New England, in that it’s half New York suburb and half Boston exurb and two thirds forest.
On the Green Line was someone from Wisconsin, which has mucho farmland and very cold winters, and someone from New Jersey who says that calling it a suburb of New York (one third suburb of New York, one third suburb of Philadelphia, and one third pine barrens. Lots of abandoned houses because nobody wants to live there (actually radon)) is overly generous, it’s more like New York’s dump.
I saw Kinley and Emily across the gap. The stairs were out of order and I hope those Japanese tourists didn't get horribly lost.
Liz, who has a hair braid and pendant of a compass rose, said this was like being on a boat. I said to her that I thought my legs were going to decouple from my hips.
Keira had a thick tome with her.
burning question: what are we going to do tomorrow night? Sing a song about all the world’s cheeses?
Kate and Allie, who both had heart pendants, were playing Wordle and I thought they were talking about Mastermind. Kinley said to Emily “sit on my lap.” but she could just move the seat into position instead.
I saw three exhibits: Strong Women in Renaissance Italy, which was mostly taken from the MFA's collection; Otherworldly Realms of Wu Junyong, and Fashioned by Sargent, a collaboration with the Tate.
Barbara Longhi - Virgin and Child
in the renaissance, Mary’s milk was the bond between mother and child and so shrines in Italy had relics of her milk, which would probably be cheese or yogurt. In the 16th century, depictions of Mary breastfeeding Jesus were discouraged because this might inspire lust in men.
Sofonisba Anguissola
her hand covers the word virgo and turns it into vir.
Lavinia Fontana
the reason the shape is so odd is because it was probably a protective panel on a crib or for a mother-to-be to contemplate.
Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi - Cleopatra
When Cleopatra reigned as queen
with Roman leaders she was often seen
but when she had no ruling friend
she found a poison snake to bite her in the end
(a bite down there I really wouldn’t recommend)
Alfonso Patanazzi - Plate illustrtaed with the Reconciliation of the Romans and the Sabines
There’s a metaphor in there somewhere.
Antonio Minello de’Bardi - bust of a classical heroine
This is from a private collection. We don’t know what her story is.
Table cover, 17th century Italy
Length of velvet, late 15th century Florence
Découpé folding fan, definitely made in the 1590s, not sure if Italy or France. Or maybe Nizza, which was first one, then the other.
Eight woodcuts from De gli habiti antichi et moderni di diversi parti del mondo
This is what Italian fashions of the 1590s were like across social classes and locales.
Embroidered picture of the Pietà.
You could listen to the following works:
Maddalena Casulana - Vagh’amorisi augelli
Raffaela Aleotti - Audivi vocem de caelo
Marchetto Cara - Tante volte, si, si, si
Sulpitia Cesis - Puer qui natus est
Eleanora d’Este - Salve sponsa Dei
Saint Mary Magdalen Surrounded By Angels
Bernardo Daddi - The Crucifixion
Probably made for private use in a home or convent.
Titian - Saint Catherine of Alexandria
Catherine is identified by a shattered wheel and a sword
Ludovico Carracci - Portrait of a Widow
Andrea Andreani - Woman Contemplating a Skull
Both the skull and the clock are reminders that everyone dies eventually. Even stars will one day burn out.
otherworldly realms of Wu Junyong:
sunrise (日出)
lion and tiger struggle for supremacy (狮虎争霸)
lions and tigers rarely encounter each other in the wild. Despite lions being kinda derpy especially in those dumb Palmyrene lion statues, the tiger is meant to look cuter and more likable. Tiger images are used in China to protect from evil.
horse, horse, tiger, tiger (马马虎虎)
which is a Chinese idiom meaning “not great, but not awful either.” The figures are meant to look like a bit like their logograph.
lion and tiger (狮虎)
literature class: snake swallowing elephant (语学课蛇吞象)
a chinese idiom meaning someone biting off more than they can chew, which is itself an idiom.
bodhidharma (达摩)
According to legend, he came from India to China where he lived in a cave and meditated staring at a wall for nine years. The inscription syas “wishing for peace and safety for all in this troubled world”
man meditating at the entrance of a cave (禅坐洞窗的男子)
he’s completely unfazed by the rain and wind and finding peace listening to the sounds of the nature. There are ears on the cave walls and rocks.
self-consuming man in a cave (洞内自啖男子)
“holding the waterfall in his hands, it slips between his legs.”
youth grasping an octopus (手?章鱼的少年)
ugh, since they’re not exact translations, it’s difficult to get the Chinese name.
moonrise (月升)
the tiger and the moon are yin and the lion and the sun are yang. See, I can understand that because a cartoon lion’s mane looks a lot like a cartoon sun. Especially if you put sunglasses on the lion.
PS: don’t try that in real life.
the man who has fallen into a cave (洞内坠地男子)
he made this to honor his friend who took his life.
the man surrounded by rumors (被谣言围绕的人)
“indistinct murmurs in the human brain. There are demons inside and outside the room.”
Google is really amazing at assuming what you’re doing and then not actually acknowledging you out of spite or getting really picky about your stroke order.
man playing with eggs (玩蛋的人)
Yeah, sure, eggs.
the story of fire (火的故事)
Here we have Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man and was punished by having his liver eaten by an eagle and Houyi, who shot nine of the ten suns out of the sky when they all showed up at once and burnt the Earth to cinders. Below, we have a prehistoric human rubbing a stick on a stone.
youth playing a pipe in a forest (林中吹笛少年)
the crane is a symbol of longevity
Fashioned by Sargent:
House of Worth - Lady Sassoon’s opera cloak, about 1890.
This photo looks like shit. I’m sorry about that.
Lady Sassoon (Aline de Rothshild)
Sargent liked to work in black on black.
Madame Ramón Subercaseaux (Amalia Errázuriz)
The room is furnished in the Aesthetic Movement style. Sargent arranged everything himself.
Sargent favored dark suits for men and black or white for women.
Mrs. Edward L. Davis (Maria Robbins) and her Son, Livingston Davis
Ena and Betty, Daughters of Asher and Mrs. Wertheimer
Maker once known - fan
Edith, Lady Playfair (Edith Russell)
Eleanora O’Donnell Iselin (Mrs. Adrian Iselin)
Rather than pick out a fashionable Parisian gown for her to wear, he instead painted her in the casual-ish day dress she was wearing.
Édouard Pailleron
He was also painted in what would be considered casual wear at the time.
Wealthy people would have three or even four outfits for a day.
Helen Sears
Miss Elsie Palmer, or A Lady in White.
Mrs. Hugh Hammersley (Mary Frances Grant)
A character in the recent television series The Gilded Age wears a take on this dress.
She saved a piece of the gown afterwards. The one thing I didn’t like about the exhibit is that they didn’t have (replica) fabric samples you could touch. Well, that and the lack of Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose.
Mrs. Robert Harrison (Helen Smith)
This was considered “eccentric” and “violently keyed” and “convey[ed] her to the regions of Mephistopheles” by the London press but maybe that’s because they didn’t like her.
Maker once known - hat ornament
it just says bird of paradise feathers so maybe it isn’t a stuffed bird. That caused some, ahem, problems.
Mrs. Fiske Warren (Gretchen Osgood) and her daughter Rachel.
This was painted in the Gardner Museum. Somehow the MFA ended up with it instead. Supposedly Gretchen planned on wearing a green velvet gown but Sargent told her that pink would contrast nicely with the reds and golds of the room. Gretchen borrowed a gown from her sister-in-law and Rachel just had a sheet of pink fabric draped over her.
Mrs. Edward Darley Boit (Mary Louisa Cushing)
Polkadots? Scandalous! The painting of her daughters are where they usually are.
House of Worth - Evening dress
I got a somewhat crappier picture with a guy in 2020s fashion behind it but in this photo, you can actually see the pearl detailing.
Mrs. Joshua Montgomery Sears (Sarah Choate Sears)
Jean-Philippe Worth - Evening dress
Puffy sleeves were the rage in the 1890s.
L. Perchellet - pair of women’s shoes
House of Worth - Walking dress
Well to do people would have four, even five, different outfits for a day. Morning, walking, playing tennis, dinner parties, and so on.
Mrs. Charles Thursby (Alice Brisbane)
The color scheme, green, purple, and white, could be a nod to the suffrage movement which THE TERFS FUCKING HIJACKED. EVEN THOUGH NOTHING THAT THEY HAVE DONE, AT ANY JUNCTURE IN TIME, HAS IN ANY WAY BENEFITED WOMEN.
Vernon Lee
That was Violet Paget’s pen name.
W. Graham Roberston
It was high summer when Sargent painted this.
I think that’s a dog behind him but I’m not entirely sure. Could be a very fluffy cat. Could be a chupacabra with socks.
Lord Ribblesdale
Riding clothing. Of course the capcha meant that blob would finally rear its ugly pseudopod. It’s bad enough that I’m training self-driving cars.
But I think my upper limit on how many images to post at a time is 20.
Cocksey and Co. Hatters
By the 1830s, beavers had become endangered and hatters would have to make top hats from silk plush. There was much less lead involved as well.
Friedman Sternheimer - Folding fan
Sir Philip Sassoon
Son of Aline and Edward
If you’re wondering, because I was, they are related to Seigfried Sassoon.
The Reconciliation in Dona Nobis Pacem is Whitman, not Sassoon, but they both have the theme of putting the war behind us.
Miss Jane Evans
Her only status symbol is the gold fob-chain.
There are names on the paneling behind her.
Ena Wertheimer: A Vele Gonfie
Which is Italian for full sail, an idiom meaning with gusto.
Jewish people in Britain were outsiders and were thus unrestrained by the conventions and rules of the British upper class.
Dr. Pozzi at Home
Sargent instead decided to portray him in a robe.
Maker once known - Coat (Entari)
Sargent collected garments to be used in his paintings.
In those days, though the Ottoman Empire (or Austria-Hungary or the Russian Empire) was not long for the world, or maybe because of that, their aesthetics were fashionable in western Europe.
We were talking about this in a LaurentheFlute stream and we came to the collective conclusion that wearing a kimono, for example, is fine because it’s just clothing, but wearing a Native American feather headdress is the equivalent of wearing a whole bunch of military medals that you didn’t earn.
Maker once known - Costume for Carmen Dauset Moreno
Sargent just kept it.
La Carmencita (Carmen Dauset Moreno)
Javanese Dancer
This was painted at the 1889 World’s Fair, which the monarchies of Europe boycotted because it was commemorating the French Revolution, at a showcase of various colonial cultures. The Dutch brought over sixty Javanese craftspeople, musicians, and dancers for people to gawk at. The guy from Senegal was particularly offended because they depicted them living in mud huts.
It wasn’t the first time this happened.
The dancer has two left hands to suggest motion.
It’s an unfinished sketch for something that never came to fruition.
We know their names: Sarkiyem, Tuminah, Sukiayah, and Wakiyem, but nothing else. Sargent did his best to make her a real person and not just a simulacrum.
Almina, Daughter of Asher Wertheimer
Stereotypes of the time associated Jews with the mysterious East.
Robert Louis Stevenson and his Wife (Francis Van de Grift Osbourne)
Stevenson wears a velveteen jacket, and Fanny is dressed as an “Indian princess, one blaze of gold and white lace.” Asian and Middle Eastern clothing were seen as an escape from Victorian cultures.
Alice Laura Comyns-Carr
Beetle Wing Dress for Lady Macbeth
The dress has actual beetle elytra sewn on to it, most likely molted.
Ellen Terry
Her eyes look somewhat deranged. But then again, she is Lady Macbeth. The pose she’s doing never happened in the play.
Albert de Belleroche
Sargent’s friend, or maybe more than that.
Charles Steward, Sixth Marquess of Londonderry, Carrying the Great Sword of State of the Coronation of Edward VII, August 1902, and Mr. W.C. Beaumont His Page on That Occasion.
He didn’t paint Edward VII at his coronation. Here we see Charles Stewart reenacting it.
Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau [Virginie Amélie Avegno])
This was considered a faux pas and then a symbol of Americans toppling the social order.
Afterward, he modified the painting so that the strap looked more securely fastened.
Mrs. Leopold Hirsch (Mathilde Seligman)
This is merely a similar fabric and the lace is from a 17th century men’s cravat, the predecessor to a necktie. The textile in “bizarre” design was made around 1700.
Sir Frank (Athelstane) Swettenham
High Commissioner of the Malay States. The commissioned portrait is in Singapore. This one was made for Swettenham’s personal use.
Maker once known - Evening dress
Sargent sometimes takes liberties, or maybe the dress was modified to be more fashionable or to be refitted. The dress has detachable panels to make room for her pregnant body.
Mrs. Charles E. Inches (Louise Pomeroy)
Mrs. Carl Meyer (Adèle Levis) and Her Children, Frank Cecil and Elsie Charlotte
The elites and aristoi in not just Europe but in America weren’t exactly pleased about Jewish people making money.
I once had a thought about right wingers being less capitalist in Europe. In America, the right will tolerate the existence of a few wealthy Jews or non-whites, that’s just the price we pay. In Europe, the aristocracy already exists and we can’t have just anyone encroaching on it.
The Countess of Rocksavage (Sybil Sassoon)
The dress may make them think of portraits of Spanish queens but it makes me think she’s going to toss a wine glass on the floor and opine on the nature of man.
Colonel Ian Hamilton, C.B., D.S.O.
This was commissioned to commemorate the storming of the Dargai Heights in what is now Pakistan.
I just like the contrast of his coat with his red uniform.
John D. Rockefeller
Despite his enormous wealth, he’s dressed in very modest clothing.
A long time ago, I found an article about what our ultrarich eat and Bezos probably has the fanciest thing on there while the rest of them are either boring or have eccentric ways of eating mundane things.
By 1917, Sargent had given up his portrait practice but agreed to paint Rockefeller, donating all proceeds to the Red Cross.
Lady Helen Vincent, Vicountess d’Abernon
I can’t read that. It probably has some cool insights on the painting but you’ll never know.
Mrs. Frank Millet (Elizabeth Merrill)
Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (Gertrude Vernon)
Lady Agnew entertained frequently and, like Mithridates the Lone, in life, loved music, but she had a poor constitution and so Sargent had to paint her in only six sessions.
The Black Brook
Sargent’s niece
I once took a watercolor class with someone who said she was related to Sargent. Damned if I can remember anything but her surname. Not even her actual name. Probably Caitlin. After all, it was a long time ago. Back when Burrito Max was a place in Kenmore Square.
For what it’s worth, Sargent didn’t have any brothers that I am aware of.
The Morning Walk
Sargent’s sister. This was done during Sargent’s impressionist phase and I can definitely see the Monet influence in this painting.
Femme en barque (Lady in a boat)
Our subject here is unidentified
Charles Deering
I thought this was painted in the Cayman Islands but it’s just Florida.
Group with Parasols (A Siesta)
Lady Fishing–Mrs. Ormond (Violet Sargent)
The Pink Dress
Sargent’s niece
Cashmere
they’re all the same person in different poses. You can tell by the face.
Nonchaloir (Repose)
Technically, it means indifference.
Which might be a pun based on the French word châle, or shawl.
Two Girls in White Dresses
Sybil Sassoon
He’s trying to evoke the painter Godfrey Kneller, painter of many a British monarch and noble.
The Chess Game
In 1905, Sargent traveled throughout the Ottoman Empire, or what was left of it, with thoughts of the mural . You know, I think the biggest losers of World War I were the Arabs. They revolt against the Ottomans only to end up broken up into French and British zones of control (the British ended up with most of the oil), and then, of course, they fucked up the creation of a Jewish state, and then the Russians fucked them over. And I like how now, in modern times, they’re trying to rehabilitate the fucking Nazis. Spoiler alert: the Grand Khazi of Jerusalem was a nobody. Nazi Germany and their client states did it all themselves. Sorry, Gaza, your living space will be cut in half in order to make the world a slightly more comfortable place for people who erenow have never been east of İstanbul. Can’t wait for this war ends. Sorry, Jerry, you’ll have to go back to being insufferable about Olivia Rodrigo. Anyways, after that, he found himself in the Italian Alps with a brand new haul of clothing. Sargent’s niece is playing against Sargent’s valet.
In a Garden, Corfu
By 1909, that dress was horridly unfashionable.
This is the shawl itself.
I don’t think the word cashmere came to us via French. It was probably just an archaic spelling of kashmir. She only knew it from the song. I know it from the song and yet another British Empire fuckup. Kashmir got the option of “you can join India, you can join Pakistan, or you can remain an independent polity that will probably get absorbed into one or the other or maybe China if they ever get their shit together,” which they did a year later (I don’t know what the Kashmiris think but had the other China won, I’d be happy to join them). If they join India, they’ll piss everyone off. If they join Pakistan, they’ll have to give up their power. It’s a bit like the Bengal, a Hindu elite ruling over the Muslim masses. Only with less fascism and Hitler-worship. Think Asit Krishna Mukherji and Subhas Chandra Bose. Both Bengali elites. They went with the third option. Let’s be neutral. Like Switzerland! Since we’re all mountainy, nobody’s going to want to take us over anyway. Unfortunately, while Switzerland’s greatest resources are chocolate bars and cuckoo clocks, Jammu and Kashmir is India’s sole source of borax and sapphire.
Nowadays, it’s de facto split between the three. Pakistan keeps trying to spark a revolution and it always fails but in 2019, Modi’s India did a dumb and pissed off pretty much everyone there. It’s like they didn’t learn from Cyprus. Maybe Modi needs to do a meticulous analysis of history.
I’m pleasantly surprised that Modi hasn’t caused India to break down into its constituent parts yet.
Well, maybe not pleasantly surprised. Surprised, anyway. Well, maybe pleasantly because I thought he’d do it by getting in a war with China and/or Pakistan.
I had a dream where Pakistan was integrated into India. Also Indonesia was really big and lopsided.
Maybe dreams can come true but that one certainly won’t. I do think India and Pakistan should have a Battle of the Bands because then everyone wins.
I had for lunch/dinner a panini on sourdough with chickpeas, arugula, olive tapenade, roasted red peppers, and zucchini.
Not enough olive tapenade but otherwise really good. The girl next to me was singing her take on Jingle Bell Rock only it was about Batman. When they left, two people speaking what I think is Arabic sat next to me.
At the table to the other side was someone visiting from Connecticut, which is the New Jersey of New England, in that it’s half New York suburb and half Boston exurb and two thirds forest.
On the Green Line was someone from Wisconsin, which has mucho farmland and very cold winters, and someone from New Jersey who says that calling it a suburb of New York (one third suburb of New York, one third suburb of Philadelphia, and one third pine barrens. Lots of abandoned houses because nobody wants to live there (actually radon)) is overly generous, it’s more like New York’s dump.
I saw Kinley and Emily across the gap. The stairs were out of order and I hope those Japanese tourists didn't get horribly lost.
Liz, who has a hair braid and pendant of a compass rose, said this was like being on a boat. I said to her that I thought my legs were going to decouple from my hips.
Keira had a thick tome with her.
burning question: what are we going to do tomorrow night? Sing a song about all the world’s cheeses?
no subject
Date: 2023-11-17 01:52 am (UTC)The Helen Smith portrait has an amazing dress, and the design of the painting was well worth an acquaintance with Mephistopheles.
And no one hates New Jersey more than New Jerseyans.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-17 01:57 am (UTC)