Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney

1895–1919

The “Triumph of Religion” murals for the Boston Public Library

From 1895 through 1919, for almost thirty years, Sargent works on his largest-scale work, the mural decorations “Triumph of Religion” for the Boston Public Library, showing religion's progress from pagan superstition to the ascension of Christianity; he never completes the final mural of the cycle.

1905–1914

Summer journeys with the de Glehns

Between 1905 and 1914 Sargent's frequent travelling companions are the married artist couple Wilfrid de Glehn and Jane Emmet de Glehn; the trio often spend summers in France, Spain or Italy, and all three depict one another in their paintings.

1906–1913

Summers in the Swiss Alps with his sisters and nieces

Sargent makes several summer visits to the Swiss Alps with his sisters Emily and Violet and Violet's daughters Rose-Marie and Reine, who are the subject of a number of paintings between 1906 and 1913, such as “The Black Brook” (1908).

1911

Helps the young David Bomberg into the Slade School

Sargent guides the young artist David Bomberg, who sat as a model for him in 1907, and in 1911 helps him get a place at the Slade School of Art.

last decade of life

Watercolours of Maine, Florida and the American West

In the last decade of his life Sargent produces many watercolours in Maine, Florida and the American West, of fauna, flora and native peoples.