Man Reading

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

His first major solo show of watercolours

In 1905 the Carfax Gallery in London holds Sargent's first major solo exhibition of watercolour works; in watercolours he is able to indulge his earliest artistic inclinations for nature, architecture, exotic peoples and noble mountain landscapes.

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).

1907

Closes his portrait studio

In 1907, at the age of fifty-one, Sargent officially closes his studio, relieved: painting a portrait, he says, would be quite amusing if one were not forced to talk while working, entertaining the sitter and looking happy when one feels wretched.