Study of Field Marshal John French for "General Officers of World War I"
1920-1922
Medium
charcoal on laid paper
Dimensions
sheet: 61.91 × 47.63 cm (24 3/8 × 18 3/4 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of Miss Emily Sargent and Mrs. Francis Ormond, sisters of the artist)
Accession Number
2015.19.653
Art Historical Context
John Singer Sargent, the renowned American expatriate artist celebrated for his virtuoso portraits and fluid brushwork, created this compelling charcoal study between 1920 and 1922. It served as a preparatory drawing for his monumental mural series *General Officers of World War I commissioned for Harvard University's Widener Library to honor Allied leaders. Field Marshal John French, the subject, was Britain's first commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force during early years of the war, embodying the era's stoic military resolve. Executed in charcoal on laid paper—a traditional ...
About the Artist
John Singer Sargent · 1856–1925
John Singer Sargent, born on January 12, 1856, in Florence to American expatriate parents FitzWilliam Sargent, an eye surgeon and medical illustrator, and Mary Newbold Singer, an amateur artist, enjoyed a nomadic childhood across Europe. His mother nurtured his artistic inclinations with sketchbooks and museum visits, while he received early watercolor lessons from German landscape painter Carl We...