Thank you so much for your book recommendations and insightful notes. I recommended both Still Life and Chasing Beauty to my book club, and we loved both of them! We had great discussions. I really want to visit Boston and the Gardner Museum. Thank you again for sharing this information with us.
Thank you, Barb! I’m so glad your group liked those books! Chasing Beauty is so well done, though it is A LOT of Isabella Stewart Gardner. And I wish I could read Still Life again for the first time… I hope you get to the Gardner Museum—worth a visit for the courtyard gardens alone.
Thanks so much for this - I should've realized Belle and Sargent were tight. The Fiske Warren painting is my absolute favorite of Sargent's works...I still remember seeing it for the first time at the MFA when I was visiting colleges with a friend as a high school senior. I totally fell in love with that enormous canvas...♥️♥️♥️
Forgot to mention the Gardner heist! A tragedy. The museum has kept the empty frames in place. I know of that podcast you mentioned, but haven't listened, will add it too my queue.
Thanks so much for @zinagomezliss's piece! An impassioned essay - how wonderful the little museum has made many people happy. I have never visited it but will absolutely drop by the next time I'm in the Boston area.
The podcast is very good and ultimately very sad. It has been a while since I listened to it, but I think one of the experts interviewed believes that most likely, the thieves...burned the paintings. Apparently it's a common fate for stolen art that cannot be fenced. It's horrible!
Thank you! And yes, I imagine she was a breath of fresh air for Sargent when he was visiting Boston as a younger artist. I love that Mrs. Fiske Warren portrait so much too! Love its moodiness. And I wanted to incorporate that wonderful photo into the post, but it was getting too long. Love how you can see them laughing in the background. I like to think that Mrs. Gardner was taking the photos, or at least was there telling a joke.
It was no joke, to become a mother and keep small children alive in those days. Enjoyed all these details. I too had always thought she’d had an affair with Sargent, but it seems not. Thanks for setting me straight!
So true--so many wrenching losses back then, and wealth wasn't any protection against it. Re Sargent, I can imagine a friendship that was rather flirty to begin with. But who knows? We can only imagine.
The Lioness of Boston is good - it covers her life from her marriage onward pretty well. It reads more like an autobiography than a novel, which has its good and bad points, but it does immerse you in that period, which is lovely.
I haven't heard about this determined woman. And I just love Sargent's work. This is a lovely historical article Sarah. Is the museum in the heart of Boston? Hope you had a lovely trip to Italy. Your photographs were lovely. At moment I am reading Alan Hollinghurst's Our Evenings, published a few months ago. I am a fan of his writing.
Thank you so much for your book recommendations and insightful notes. I recommended both Still Life and Chasing Beauty to my book club, and we loved both of them! We had great discussions. I really want to visit Boston and the Gardner Museum. Thank you again for sharing this information with us.
Thank you, Barb! I’m so glad your group liked those books! Chasing Beauty is so well done, though it is A LOT of Isabella Stewart Gardner. And I wish I could read Still Life again for the first time… I hope you get to the Gardner Museum—worth a visit for the courtyard gardens alone.
Interesting legacy.
Yes. Kind of amazing that the museum is still as she left it.
Thanks so much for this - I should've realized Belle and Sargent were tight. The Fiske Warren painting is my absolute favorite of Sargent's works...I still remember seeing it for the first time at the MFA when I was visiting colleges with a friend as a high school senior. I totally fell in love with that enormous canvas...♥️♥️♥️
Two links:
1) I adore this photo of Sargent painting Mrs. Fiske Warren and Rachel: https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/collection/26374
2) The Gardner Museum suffered a terrible theft back in 1990. Worth listening to: https://www.wbur.org/podcasts/lastseen/last-seen-season-one
The Vermeers are gone...probably forever. 😞
Forgot to mention the Gardner heist! A tragedy. The museum has kept the empty frames in place. I know of that podcast you mentioned, but haven't listened, will add it too my queue.
Somewhat relatedly, @zinagomezliss had a wonderful post about her relationship with the Gardner, including the heist. Here's the link: https://open.substack.com/pub/zinagomezliss/p/mrs-jacks-palace-of-impermanence?r=1nwxl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Thanks so much for @zinagomezliss's piece! An impassioned essay - how wonderful the little museum has made many people happy. I have never visited it but will absolutely drop by the next time I'm in the Boston area.
The podcast is very good and ultimately very sad. It has been a while since I listened to it, but I think one of the experts interviewed believes that most likely, the thieves...burned the paintings. Apparently it's a common fate for stolen art that cannot be fenced. It's horrible!
It is worth a visit! An idiosyncratic but rich and wide-ranging art collection, and a beautiful space.
Thank you! And yes, I imagine she was a breath of fresh air for Sargent when he was visiting Boston as a younger artist. I love that Mrs. Fiske Warren portrait so much too! Love its moodiness. And I wanted to incorporate that wonderful photo into the post, but it was getting too long. Love how you can see them laughing in the background. I like to think that Mrs. Gardner was taking the photos, or at least was there telling a joke.
Such an interesting and complicated woman she was. Enjoyed reading this profile.
You put that well—interesting and complicated indeed. Thank you, Jill!
It was no joke, to become a mother and keep small children alive in those days. Enjoyed all these details. I too had always thought she’d had an affair with Sargent, but it seems not. Thanks for setting me straight!
So true--so many wrenching losses back then, and wealth wasn't any protection against it. Re Sargent, I can imagine a friendship that was rather flirty to begin with. But who knows? We can only imagine.
Glad you are enjoying Italy!! I enjoyed rereading your post. You are right—Natalie Dykstra’s biography Chasing Beauty is excellent!
Thank you for rereading, Etta! And yes, Italy was wonderful, wish we’d had more time. Hoping to return in the next year or so.
The Lioness of Boston is good - it covers her life from her marriage onward pretty well. It reads more like an autobiography than a novel, which has its good and bad points, but it does immerse you in that period, which is lovely.
It’s on my list, but I haven’t read it yet. I think I enjoyed Chasing Beauty so much that it made me hesitate to read Lioness.
I haven't heard about this determined woman. And I just love Sargent's work. This is a lovely historical article Sarah. Is the museum in the heart of Boston? Hope you had a lovely trip to Italy. Your photographs were lovely. At moment I am reading Alan Hollinghurst's Our Evenings, published a few months ago. I am a fan of his writing.