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Artworks
John Singer Sargent 1856-1925
A Group of Spanish Soldiers at the Hospital Real, Santiago de Compostela, c. 1903Pencil with watercolor, heightened with bodycolor, on paper11 3/4 x 15 3/4 in
29.8 x 40 cm
Framed dimensions: 22 1/2 x 26 1/2 inSigned and inscribed lower right: To my friend Rathbone / John Singer SargentSoldSargent began painting Spaniards - 'the most amiable people in the world' - in Granada in 1879. Despite this, his Spanish journeys of 1892, 1895 and 1903 produced few paintings...Sargent began painting Spaniards - "the most amiable people in the world" - in Granada in 1879. Despite this, his Spanish journeys of 1892, 1895 and 1903 produced few paintings of figures. During his visit in 1903 his explorations of the country took him further afield from Madrid. In August of that year, he was in Santiago de Compostela. There, he painted street scenes and infantry soldiers from the Garrison of Galicia, identified by their red trousers and hats and espadrilles, who were staying in the Royal Hospital, which was built for pilgrims.
Sargent had originally given a different picture of Spanish Soldiers to William Rathbone and had already inscribed it to his friend (John Singer Sargent: Figures and Landscapes, 1900-1907, Complete Paintings:
Volume VII, cat.no. 1267). However, it mistakenly became part of an 83 picture purchase by the Brooklyn Museum from the artist in April 1909. To rectify this error, Sargent offered the present picture as a substitute, which Rathbone said he preferred.
Provenance
William Gair Rathbone, 1909
Mrs. William Gair Rathbone (née Blanche Marie Luling; widow of the above), 1919
Elena Rathbone (Lady Richmond; daughter of the above), 1938
Heirs of the above, 1964 until 2024
Exhibitions
(Possibly) London, New English Art Club, Summer Exhibition, 1904, no. 11 (as Spanish Soldiers) or no. 1267.
(Possibly) London, Carfax & Co., Loan Exhibition of Water Colours by John S. Sargent, R.A., April 1905, no. 4 or no. 45 (as Spanish Soldiers, No. I' and Spanish Soldiers, No. 2.
New York, M. Knoedler & Co., New York, Water Color Drawings by John Singer Sargent and Edward Darley Boit, 15-27 February 1909, no. 75 (as Spanish Hospital) [Traveled: Boston Massachusetts, Boston Art Club, 26 March-10 April 1909].
London, RWS, 1924, no. 16 (as Spanish Soldiers, Convalescence).
London, The Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of Works by the Late John. S Sargent, R.A., Winter Exhibition, 41 January-13 March 1926, no. 160, p. 26.
London, Tate Gallery (formerly National Gallery (Millbank)), Opening of Sargent Gallery, June-October 1926, p. 8.
Birmingham, United Kingdom, City Museum and Art Gallery, Exhibition of Works by John Singer Sargent, R.A.,1856-1925, 25 September-18 October 1964, no. 57, p. 24.
United Kingdom, Lotherton Hall, Leeds Art Galleries, John Singer Sargent and the Edwardian Age, 5April-10 June 1979, no. 80, p. 95, illustrated p. 49 [Traveled: London, National Portrait Gallery, 6 July-9 September 1979; Detroit Michigan, The Detroit Institute of Arts, 17 October-9 December 1979].
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Sargent & Spain, 22 October 2022-2 January 2023, no. 70, p. 20, 104 [Traveled: San Francisco, California, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, 11 February-14 May 2023].
Literature
Illustrations of the Sargent Exhibition, Royal Academy, 1926, London, 1926.
R. Ormond, John Singer Sargent: Paintings, Drawings, Watercolours, London, 1970, pl. 83, p. 250, illustrated.
Ayres and Myers, exh. cat., 1985, p. 32.
A. Blaugrund in John Singer Sargent, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1986, n. 35, p. 246.
R. Ormond and E. Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: Figures and Landscapes, 1900-1907, Complete Paintings, vol. VII, New Haven and London, 2012, p. 140, no. 1270.
Sarah Cash, Elaine Kilmurrary, and Richard Ormond, Sargent & Spain, exh. cat. (2022), cat. no. 70.
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