$243,000
John Singer Sargent (American, 1856-1925) Study of a Man's Head , c. 1878 Unsigned, inscribed "182" and "4242" with red wax seal remnants on the stretcher. Oil on canvas, 22 x 17 1/4 in. (55.9 x 43.8 cm), framed. Condition: Lined, retouch above and below the varnish layer, surface grime. Provenance: Auguste Alexandre Hirsch; Mme. Hirsch, 1912; M. Knoedler & Co., London, January 7, 1914 (stock no. 5782); presented by Charles S. Carstairs of Knoedler, London to Mrs. Reginald Nicholson ( née Pearson), November 1915 (stock nos. WC 965 and 13621); private Rhode Island collection. Literature: Probably the work listed in Mount 1955, p. 428 (806), dated 1880, as "Gondolier (study of a man). 17 1/4 x 22, formerly Knoedler"; 1957 ed., p. 336 (806); 1969 ed., p. 463 (806); Elaine Kilmurray and Richard Ormond, John Singer Sargent, Figures and Landscapes, 1874-1882, Complete Paintings, Volume IV (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), p. 40, 389, no. 624. N.B. The present work is recently rediscovered, and had been untraced since its acquisition in 1915 by Mrs. Reginald Nicholson [ née Natalie Pearson] (d. 1956). Ms. Pearson was the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Frederick Stark Pearson of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. (1) She married Reginald Nicholson MBE (1869-1946), manager of the London Times, on February 15, 1915. Prior to the London Times, Mr. Nicholson was a manager at the Somerville Electric Light Company (created by Natalie's father), and later became chief engineer
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2014-09-19
