Palmettos

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.

1916

Sells “Madame X” to the Metropolitan Museum

Sargent keeps “Madame X” prominently displayed in his London studio until he sells it in 1916 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, after moving to the United States and a few months after Gautreau's death.

1916

An honorary degree from Harvard University

In 1916 Harvard University awards Sargent an honorary degree.

1918

Commissioned as a war artist

On his return to England in 1918 after a visit to the United States Sargent is commissioned as a war artist by the British Ministry of Information; he depicts scenes from the Great War in his large painting “Gassed” and in many watercolours.

Good Friday 1918

His niece Rose-Marie killed in the shelling of Paris

On Good Friday 1918 his niece Rose-Marie dies in the shelling of the church of St Gervais in Paris; Sargent is deeply affected by her death.

late 1919

The row over the murals “The Church” and “The Synagogue”

The paintings “The Church” and “The Synagogue”, installed in late 1919, portray Christianity as a lovely, radiant young woman and Judaism as a blind, ugly hag, and seem to Boston's Jews to show Judaism defeated; Sargent is both surprised and hurt by the criticism and in the end abandons his plan to finish the murals.