The sitter and her husband, the painter Charles Gifford Dyer, were part of an expatriate community of American artists that lived and worked in Europe in the late 19th century. John Singer Sargent painted this portrait during his first extended stay in Venice as a professional artist. Rather than a formal commission, the work likely served as a souvenir of friendship and shared experiences. Its relatively small scale and the background’s thin, quick brushwork suggest that Sargent completed the canvas in a single sitting. The painting’s dark tones and limited palette are reminiscent of Spanish masters such as Diego Velázquez, whom Sargent looked to in particular during his student years in the late 1870s, and indeed throughout his career.
Signed, upper left: "To my friend, Mrs. Dyer. John S. Sargent. Venice. 1880"
Dimensions
62.2 × 43.8 cm (24 1/2 × 17 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Friends of American Art Collection
Reference Number
1915.592
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Judith A. Barter et al., The Age of American Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2011), no. 74.
Art Institute of Chicago, Special Exhibition of the Works in the Friends of American Art Collection, May 15–Jun 15, 1919, cat. 8.
New York, Grand Central Galleries, Retrospective Exhibition of Important Works of John Singer Sargent, Feb 23–Apr 6, 1924, cat. 49.
Milwaukee Art Institute, Exhibition of Forty Paintings presented to the Art Institute of Chicago by the Friends of American Art, Mar 1–29, 1925, cat. 31.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Survey of American Painting from the Permanent Collection of the Art Institute, Jul 21–Oct 9, 1932.
Museum of Modern Art, American Painting and Sculpture 1862–1932, Oct 31, 1932–Jan 31, 1933, cat. 90.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Jun 1–Nov 1, 1933, cat. 476.
De Young Memorial Museum, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Exhibition of American Painting, Jun 7–Jul 7, 1935, cat. 194.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Problems of Portraiture, Oct 16–Nov 28, 1937; Washington, DC, Phillips Memorial Gallery, Dec 6, 1937–Jan 3, 1938.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Art in Our Times, May–Oct 1939, cat. 46.
Pittsburgh, PA, Carnegie Institute, Survey of American Painting, Oct 24–Dec 15, 1940, cat. 194.
Milwaukee Art Museum, Six Centuries of Portrait Masterpieces, Oct 2–Nov 15, 1942.
Springfield, MA, Museum of Fine Arts, Fifteen Fine Paintings, Oct 7–Nov 7, 1948.
Art Institute of Chicago, Sargent, Whistler, and Mary Cassatt, Jan 14–Feb 25, 1954, cat. 43; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mar 25–May 23, 1954.
New York, World’s Fair, Gallery at the Better Living Center, Four Centuries of American Masterpieces, May 22–Oct 18, 1964, cat. 25.
New York, Portraits Inc., Portraits of Yesterday and Today, Apr 23–May 21, 1968, cat. 73.
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 19th–Century America, Paintings and Sculpture, an Exhibition in Celebration of the Hundredth Anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Apr 16–Sep 7, 1970, cat. 175.
Art Institute of Chicago, Art at The Time of the Centennial, Jun 19–Aug 8, 1976, no cat, as Portrait of Mrs. Charles Gifford Dyer.
Albi, France, Musée Toulouse–Lautrec, Tresors Impressionistes du Musée de Chicago, cat. 54.
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, John Singer Sargent, Oct 7, 1986–Jan 4, 1987; Art Institute of Chicago, Feb 7–Apr 19, 1987.
Art Institute of Chicago, John Singer Sargent and Chicago’s Gilded Age, Jul 1–Sep 30, 2018, cat. 8, fig. 6.
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