Sargent painted his friend and artist Dwight Blaney. This would be one of Sargent's last scene paintings.
From: Ben Blaney
bb la ney@ironbound.net
Date: Wednesday, December 17-20, 2003
JSS visited my grandfather Dwight Blaney several times on Ironbound Island, and made at least 7 paintings there, only 2 of which I found on your site-- 'On the Verandah' & 'The artist sketching' (both showing his friend and fellow artist Dwight Blaney). . . Both . . . were painted on Ironbound Island, Dwight Blaney's summer home in Maine, where a number of fellow artists visited him. See the article 'Dwight Blaney: An American Impressionist' in American Art Review, vol. 19, no. 1(Jan-Feb, 2002),p.184-187.
Dwight Blaney's Ironbound Island lies in Frenchman Bay, about 3 miles East of Bar Harbor, ME. Dwight died in 1944, though the family still goes there seasonally. The big house (the one in 'On the Verandah' [Thumbnail]) burned the summer of 1944. A log cabin stands on the site today.
'On the Verandah' shows Dwight Blaney & his wife Edith with their 2 daughters Elizabeth (l) and Margaret (r).
'On the Verandah' shows Dwight Blaney & his wife Edith with their 2 daughters Elizabeth (l) and Margaret (r) -- Ben Blaney
This is at their summer house in Maine. Dwight Blaney (1865-1944) is seated in a chair, reclining with his legs stretched out before him. He is smoking a pipe. His wife, Edith Hill Blaney, who is wearing a hat, is seated, facing away from her husband, and is sewing. Their daughter Margaret ("Meg") (b. 1898) is seated on bench against the house. Elizabeth ("Libby") (b. 1905) is seated on the edge of the porch. Both daughters are also sewing.
(SIRIS)
Ormond, Richard and Elaine Kilmurray, "John Singer Sargent: complete paintings; volume 3, The later portraits," New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003, no. 584.
McKibbin, David, "Sargent's Boston," Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1956.
Ormond, Richard and Elaine Kilmurray, "John Singer Sargent: complete paintings; volume 3, The later portraits," New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003, pg. 249.
Sold at Christies LA; 11/30/1999; Lot 62; $387,500