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Ramón Subercaseaux
John Singer Sargent
-- American painter
c. 1880
Dixon Gallery and Gardens
Memphis, Tennessee
Oil on canvas
47 x 63.5 cm (18 1/2
x 25 in)
Gift of Cornelia Ritchie
Bivins 1996.2.13
Jpg:
Friend of the JSS Gallery
Born in Valparaiso which is right on
the coast and not too far from the capital, Ramón (1854-1937) was
the Chilean Counsul to Paris. At twenty-six years old he was only two years
older than John. Ramón was active in the artistic community, cultivating
a number of friends. He was himself an amateur artist.
His career was quite successful,
holding positions as Minister to Germany and Italy and then Ambassador
to the Vatican and eventually becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs back
home. He wrote a number of books and owned a vineyard which produced, supposedly,
some remarkable wines.
He had been in Paris since '74 (at
the age of 20) and had only just married his beautiful bride Amalia Errazuriz
y Urmeneta the previous year. Their first contact with Sargent was after
the '79 Salon when the newlyweds were looking for a portrait artist for
his new wife.
Sargent seems to have hit it off
with both. They obviously loved the portrait he did. When John later found
himself in Venice, he ran into Amalia and Ramón who had honeymooned
there previously and the two men shared studio space at the Palazzo
Rezzonico.
In this painting, the two share
a covered gondola and, according to Ramón's son -- Luis Subercaseaux,
the two were in the process of painting each other which they would exchange
as gifts
(Ormond
& Kilmurray, Early Portraits, pp. 89-90)
Notes:
Special thanks to Robert W. Torchia,
PhD, curator at the Dixon Gallery in Memphis and a friend
of the JSS Gallery, for sending me the image of Sargent's painting.
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