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Grandchildren at This Summer's End

Summer is really coming to an end. Last night I was talking to one of my daughters who reminded me that her youngest would join her big sister in "school" next week. It took me aback. Of course, it is just pre-kindergarden, but how could that little baby be so old so soon? When I saw this photo of these sisters at the beach, I remembered another photo of older grandchildren at the beach taken nearly a decade ago.

These children in 21st-century settings are not as formal as those posed & painted over a century ago by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925); but beyond the clothing & settings, the difference is negligible no matter the surroundings, the decade, or the century. Each one just a fragile, precious life...

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925). Marian Madge Roller

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925). Frances Winifred Hill

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925). Portrait of a Child

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925). Dorothy Vickers

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925). Charlotte Cram

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925). Dorothy

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925). Jeanne Kieffer

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925). Teresa Gosse

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925). Cara Burch

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925). Helen Sears

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925). Village Children

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925). Young Girl Wearing a White Muslin Blouse.

Parasols on the Beach

Winslow Homer (1836-1910) Detail By the Shore
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Lounging under a Parasol

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925). Lady with a Parasol
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A Few End-of-Summer Moments from William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) - With & Without Dogs

William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) Detail of Afternoon by the Seal at Gravesend Bay

William Merritt Chase (1849-1916)In the Brooklyn Navy Yard (Lady with Parasol)
William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) Good Friends I

William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) Good Friends II

William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) Tompkins Park Brooklyn

William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) Child on a Garden Walk

William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) Portrait of James Rapelje Howell

William Merritt Chase (1849-1916) Park in Brooklyn 1887
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Paintings by John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925)

Sometime in the fall of 1986, I went up to the Whitney Museum, in New York City, to see an exhibit of John Singer Sargent’s (1856 - 1925) work. I had seen his paintings here & there before; but this was a huge exhibition, & it was breathtaking. Here were the parasols, the fans, the gardens, & the women by the river. These are paintings I remember seeing then, sort of an indelible memory.

Alice Runnels James (Mrs. William lames), 1921
Catherine Vlasto, 1897
Group with Parasols (A Siesta), c. 1908-11

Jane de Glehn in Corfu (In the Garden, Corfu)

Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, c. 1892-93
Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland, 1904

Miss Elsie Palmer, 1889-90

Miss Helen Dunham, 1892
Mrs. Carl Meyer and Her Children, 1896
Reading, 1911
Simplon Pass. The Tease, 1911

The Brook, 1907
The Fountain, Villa Torlonia, Frascati Italy; 1907

The Sketchers, 1914

Violet Sargent (1870-1955) Fishing 1889.

John Singer Sargent's Baby Sister & Model Violet

Violet Sargent (1870-1955) 1875

Violet Sargent (1870-1955) was John Singer Sargent's (1856 - 1925) youngest sister. John was 14 years older than Violet. After studying at the Accademia delle Belle Arti, Violet married Francis Ormond. Of John's 3 siblings, Violet was the only one to marry, and she would have 6 children. John would paint his sister over & over. These are some of his portraits of his baby sister.

Violet Sargent (1870-1955) 1881
In 1889, John Singer Sargent, 33 years old, traveled back & forth between Paris & London, painting several portraits of his sister Violet. It was a momentous year for both of them, for their whole family.

Violet Sargent (1870-1955) 1883
On April 25th Dr. FitzWilliam Sargent (John's father) dies at the age of 69. In his life he had pursued a successful medical career in Philadelphia until 1854, when he & his wife, Mary Newbold Singer Sargent, traveled to Europe -- never to live in the United States again.

Violet Sargent (1870-1955) 1883

In the summer after his father's death, he cancels a visit with Monet at Giverny and returns to England to be with his family (his mother & two sisters) at Fladbury Rectory, Pershore, on the river Avon.

Violet Sargent (1870-1955) The Breakfast Table 1884

There he paints Lady Fishing - Mrs. Ormond is his sister Violet Sargent Ormond (before she was married). She would have been about 19 years old. Then he paints A Boating Party which probably includes Violet again.

Violet Sargent (1870-1955) and Flora Priestley 1889
On December 4th, he sails for New York taking his sister Violet with him. She had been in a relationship with Francis Ormond of whom the newly widowed Mrs. Sargent (their mother) didn't approve. It was their intent to separate the two lovers and for John to introduce her to eligible American gentlemen. It did not work, Violet married Francis.

Violet Sargent (1870-1955) 1889

Violet Sargent (1870-1955) Lady Fishing -- Mrs Ormond 1889
Violet Sargent (1870-1955) Resting on the Grass 1889
Violet Sargent Autumn on the River 1889
Violet Sargent Ormond's Children Conrad (1898-1979) and Reine (1897-1971) Conrad 1906

Violet Sargent (1870-1955) Violet Sleeping 1908.

Went To the Beauty Salon Today

Went to have my hair cut today. Beautiful salon full of beautiful people, all young enough to be my children & grandchildren. All size 2 with lovely tans. I was at least as old as the women in these paintings by John Singer Sargent, but I was dressed in my "relaxed" black yoga clothes & those funny little flats with the elastic across the top to hold them on so you won't lose them if your memory fails or your legs give way. All the size 2's were dressed as the up & coming young professionals, that they are. And then the staff sits you in front of a full length mirror, while they "evaluate" your hair & face before they cut away. There is no where to hide & no forgetting just how old & out of shape you are. And I don't even own glorious clothes like these as a sort of a meager consolation...

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925). Mrs Ernest Hills

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925). Mrs Gardner in White

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925). Mrs Henry Phipps and her Grandson Winston.

American Folk Art - Children with Cat

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Zedekiah Belknap (1781-1858)

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American Folk Art - Girl with Dog

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Robert Peckham ((1785-1877).

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American Folk Art - Boy with Mother & Dog

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Sheldon Peck (1797-1868)

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