Synagogue

Synagogue

Item Information

Title:
Synagogue
Title (uniform):
Sargent, John Singer, 1856-1925. Triumph of religion
Description:
The Synagogue panel brought Sargent's great commission a new controversy, with many from within and beyond the Jewish community criticizing its representation of the figure as defamatory - as though representative of a religion at a collapsing point. One patron expressed dissent by splashing a vile of ink across the work in 1924. Amidst criticism, Sargent insisted that the work drew not from any ill opinion but rather from medieval imagery, depicting Synagogue as a blindfolded figure clasping her staff as the ruins of her religious space fell among her. Sargent based the figure for this work on Michelangelo's Cumaean Sibyl. It is thought that this piece - alongside Church to the far right - is embedded with imagery of World War I, in which Sargent lost his dear niece, Rose-Marie Ormond, in a bombing of a Parisian church.
Artist:
Sargent, John Singer, 1856-1925
Photographer:
Lanzel, Sheryl
Sponsor:
Boston Public Library
Date:
[ca. 1916–1919]
Format:
Paintings
Genre:
Murals
Location:
Boston Public Library
Sargent Gallery
Collection (local):
Mural Cycles at the Central Library in Copley Square
Series:
Sargent Gallery Murals: Triumph of Religion by John Singer Sargent
Subjects:
Religion
Blindfolds
Crowns
Extent:
1 painting : mural, oil on canvas ; 95 x 63 inches
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/sq87dv94j
Terms of Use:
Copyright (c) Sheryl Lanzel
All rights reserved.
Notes:
Title from information in: Wick, Peter A. "A handbook to the art and architecture of the Boston Public Library" and Sargent, John Singer, "A sequence of mural decoration executed between 1895 and 1916.".
Abstract from information in: Sargent, John Singer, "A sequence of mural decoration executed between 1895 and 1916." and Promey, Sally M., "John Singer Sargent's Triumph of Religion at the Boston Public Library."
Notes (date):
A contract dated January 18, 1893 officially commissioned John Singer Sargent to undertake work on the Boston Public Library Murals. Canvases were completed in Sargent's studios in Morgan Hall, England and London, England and shipped over to Boston and adhered to the library walls in four installations occurring in 1895, 1903, 1916, and 1919.
Notes (object):
The artist used "raised relief" elements - including wood, Lincrusta-Walton, metal, papier-mâché, glass, and plaster to help emboss and illuminate the figures in natural light. Measures approximately 95 x 63 inches.
Notes (historical):
John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) was born in Florence, Italy to an American family. He was educated at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and spent most of his life living and working in England. The artist maintained close ties to Boston and painted the Boston Public Library murals concurrently with murals at the nearby Museum of Fine Arts. Known for his aptitude as a portrait painter, Sargent was commissioned to capture many famous faces of his day. The library murals - arguably his most ambitious works - represented an opportunity to solidify his reputation as a master. He was not a highly religious man, but remained fascinated by religious imagery and iconography. "Triumph of Religion" represented an opportunity for the mid-career artist to take on a truly ambitious theme and celebrate his study of religious visual history. His mural cycle was left incomplete, perhaps slowed by the artist's personal loss with the death of his niece in World War I, as well as by criticism received from members of the public who found his representations offensive.
Accession #:
Synagogue