Reine Ormond

Details

JOHN SINGER SARGENT (1856-1925)
Reine Ormond
signed 'John S. Sargent' (lower left)—inscribed 'to Miss Ruby/John S Sargent' (on the original mat)
watercolor and pencil on paper
6 x 4 ½ in. (15.2 x 11.4 cm.)
Executed circa 1910-11.

Provenance

The artist.
Ruby Wertheimer, London, gift from the above.
Barbizon House, London, 1928.
Hugo Pitman, London, circa 1928.
Reine Ormond Pitman, London, wife of the above, by descent from the above.
Davis & Long Co., New York.
Dr. and Mrs. Jacob Y. Terner, Los Angeles, California, 1974.
Davis & Langdale Company, Inc., New York.
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 1994.

Literature

Barbizon House: An Illustrated Record, London, 1928, no. 35, illustrated.
D. McKibbin, Sargent's Boston: With an Essay & a Biographical Summary & a Complete Checklist of Sargent's Portraits, exhibition catalogue, Boston, Massachusetts, 1956, p. 114.
R. Ormond, E. Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: The Later Portraits, vol. III, New Haven, Connecticut, 2003, pp. 224, 304, no. 562, illustrated.

Exhibited

New York, Davis & Long Co., American Painting, October 15-November 2, 1974, n.p., no. 30, illustrated (as Young Girl Wearing a Bonnet).
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art; Chicago, Illinois, Art Institute of Chicago, John Singer Sargent, October 7, 1986-April 19, 1987, pp. 233, 291, fig. 197, illustrated (as Young Girl Wearing a Bonnet).

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

The present work depicts Sargent's niece, Reine Ormond, who is frequently depicted in the artist's Alpine works alongside her sister Rose-Marie. According to Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, this watercolor may have been executed en plein air at the Simplon Pass in Switzerland. After studying art at the Slade School in London, Reine married stockbroker Hugo Pitman, and the two later added the present work to their own collection. The work was initially dedicated to Ruby Wertheimer, daughter of eminent London art dealer, Asher Wertheimer, who formed a close relationship with Sargent after commissioning the artist to paint him. This relationship resulted in numerous portrayals of the family, with examples currently in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., and Tate Britain, London.

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