Léon Delafosse

Dateca. 1895 - 98

Maker John Singer Sargent Born Florence, Italy, 1856; died London, England, 1925

Label TextLéon Delafosse’s powerful hand and affecting gaze take center stage in this portrait of the talented French pianist and composer. Given that Delafosse is formally posed, elegantly dressed, and rendered nearly life-size by one of the period’s most important society painters, one would think that his likeness was done on commission. Yet, far from a public proclamation of status and sophistication, this work is an intimate picture of an artist by a fellow artist, inscribed “to M. Léon Delafosse in fond remembrance” as a token of friendship and admiration.

We might imagine that this portrait, nearly life size and quite formal in its appearance, was a commission for a public place. Sargent, one of the most talented and celebrated portraitists of the late nineteenth century in England, Europe and America, is best known for his society portraits done on commission for the grand ladies and gentlemen who wished to proclaim publicly by such elaborate productions their wealth, sophistication and elegance. But this portrait of Léon Delafosse was not a commission from the young French composer and pianist—it was, rather, Sargent's gift to him as a token of friendship and admiration. It is inscribed, in French, "to M. Léon Delafosse in fond remembrance." Sargent and Delafosse were brought together not as painter and patron but as fellow pianists. Though music is nowhere evident in the painting, it was an essential part of the inspiration for this work. Let's explore the circumstances in the lives of painter John Singer Sargent and Leon Delafosse that led to the painting of this portrait.

Object number2001.17

ProvenanceThe sitter (1874-1955), probably to his death, 1955; subsequent history uncertain, but probably by descent through the artist's family; to [Galerie Schmit, Paris, 1989-2001]; purchased by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2001

Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann

I am sure you will enjoy his playing and his French finesse.

John Singer Sargent, to Isabella Stewart Gardiner in Boston, on Léon Delafosse, 1899

Exhibition HistoryBoston, Massachusetts, Copley Hall, Paintings and Sketches by John S. Sargent, Feb. 20 - Mar.13, 1899. Cat. no. 7, p. 2. Paris, France, Salon du Champs de Mars, Société nationale des beaux-arts, May 1902. Cat. no. 1044. Berlin, Germany, Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung, 1903. Cat. no. 790. Brussels, Belgium, Le Salon, 1904. Cat. no. 134, reproduced. London, England, Royal Academy, The One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Exhibition, May 1 - Aug. 7, 1905. Cat. no. 553. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, John Singer Sargent: The Sensualist, Dec.14, 2000 - Mar.18, 2001.Text by Trevor Fairbrother. No cat. no., pp. 161, 164, reproduced p. 162, figure 6.7. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Portrait Collaborations: 19th-Century Works from the Permanent Collection, May 31, 2001 - Jan. 1, 2002. No catalogue. New York, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends, June 29 - Oct. 4, 2015. Text by Richard Ormond with Elain Kilmurray et al. Cat. no. 54, p. 154., reproduced p. 155. [Exhbition organized by National Portrait Gallery, London, Feb. 12 - May 25, 2015; Leon Delafosse only shown at Metropolitan Museum of Art.] Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, American Art: The Stories We Carry, Oct. 20, 2022 - ongoing.Published References"The Sargent Exhibition at Copley Hall. Boston." Artist 24 (March 1899): p. xlvi. "The Sargent Portrait Show." Sun XLVI (February 21, 1899): p. 6. Baldry, Lys. "The Art of J.S. Sargent, R.A.: Part I." International Studio 10 (March 1900): p. 6, reproduced. Frantz, Henri. "The Salons of 1902. La Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts." Magazine of Art 26 (1902): p. 447. Meynell, Alice Christina. The Work of John S. Sargent, R.A. London: W. Heinemann, Ltd.; New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1903; n.p., reproduced. Heilbut, Emil. "Die Ausstellung am Lehrter Bahnhof." Kunst and Kunstler I (1902/03): p. 391. Carter, A.C.R. "The Royal Academy." Art Journal (1905): pp. 166-167. "The Royal Academy-I." Graphic (April 29, 1905): p. 494. H.S. "Art. The Academy-I." Spectator (May 6, 1905): p. 673. "The Royal Academy. (First Article.)." The Times (April 29, 1905): p. 14. Downes, William Howe. John S. Sargent: His Life and Work. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1925; p. 174. Downes, William Howe. John S. Sargent: His Life and Work. With an Exhaustive Catalogue of his Works. London: Thornton, Butterworth 1926; p. 174. Charteris, Evan. John Sargent. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1927; pp. 175, 267. The Work of John S. Sargent, R.A. Introduction by J. B. Manson and A. C. Meynell. London: W. Heinemann, Ltd.; New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1927; n.p., reproduced Mount, Charles Merrill. John Singer Sargent: A Biography. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.,1955; p. 434, no. 9412. A Centennial Exhibition: Sargent's Boston. Checklist by David McKibbin. Exh. cat. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1956; p. 92. Mount, Charles Merrill. John Singer Sargent: A Biography. London: The Cresset Press, 1957; p. 343, no. 9412. Mount, Charles Merrill. John Singer Sargent: A Biography. New York: W. W. Norton, 1969; p. 436, no. 9412. Tadié, Jean-Yves. Marcel Proust: A Life. Translated by Euan Cameron. New York: Viking, 2000; p. 181, note. Ormond, Richard and Elaine Kilmurray. John Singer Sargent. Complete Paintings, Volume II: Portraits of the 1890s. New Haven and London: Yale University Press for the Paul Mellon Center for Studies in British Art, 2002; no. 322, pp. 105-106, 184, reproduced p. 105. Hansen, Dorothee. "The 'Main Field of American Artists': The Reception of American Portraits in Germany." In High Society: American Portraits in the Gilded Age, edited by Barbara Dayer Gallati, pp. 54, 65, n. 50, reproduced p. 57, fig. 11. Munich: Hiermer Verlag for the Bucerius Kunst Forum, 2008. Syme, Alison. A Touch of Blossom. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2010; pp. 78, 254, n. 47, reprodced fig. 62. Junker, Patricia. "A Sense of Place: American Art and the Seattle Art Museum." The Magazine Antiques (Novemebr 2008), p. 113, reproduced p. 112, fig. 6. Redford, Bruce. John Singer Sargent and the Art of Allusion. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2016; pp. 176-177, reproduced fig. 117.

Credit LineGiven in honor of Trevor Fairbrother by Mr. and Mrs. Prentice Bloedel by exchange, and by Robert M. Arnold, Tom and Ann Barwick, Frank Bayley, Jeffrey and Susan Brotman, Contemporary Art Council, Council of American Art, Jane and David R. Davis, Decorative Arts and Paintings Council, Robert B. Dootson, Mr. and Mrs. Barney A. Ebsworth, P. Raaze Garrison, Lyn and Gerald Grinstein, Helen and Max Gurvich, Marshall Hatch, John and Ann Hauberg, Richard and Betty Hedreen, Mary Ann and Henry James, Mrs. Janet W. Ketcham, Allan and Mary Kollar, Greg Kucera and Larry Yocom, Rufus and Pat Lumry, Byron R. Meyer, Ruth J. Nutt, Scotty Ray, Gladys and Sam Rubinstein, Mr. and Mrs. Allen Vance Salsbury, Herman and Faye Sarkowsky, Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Scheumann, Seattle Art Museum Supporters, Jon and Mary Shirley, Joan and Harry Stonecipher, Dean and Mary Thornton, William and Ruth True, Volunteers Association, Ms. Susan Winokur and Mr. Paul Leach, The Virginia Wright Fund, Charlie and Barbara Wright, Howard Wright and Kate Janeway, Merrill Wright, and Mrs. T. Evans Wyckoff

Dimensions39 3/4 x 23 3/8 in. (101 x 59.4 cm)

MediumOil on canvas