The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 20, 2024

Portrait of Lisa Colt Curtis

Portrait of Lisa Colt Curtis

1898
(American, 1856–1925)
America, 19th century
oil on canvas
Framed: 249 x 134 x 9.5 cm (98 1/16 x 52 3/4 x 3 3/4 in.); Unframed: 219.3 x 104.8 cm (86 5/16 x 41 1/4 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1998.168
Location: 208 American Gilded Age and Realism

Did You Know?

Although known as John Singer Sargent today, he almost never used his middle name during his lifetime.

Description

One of the most sought-after painters of his era, Sargent achieved considerable critical and financial success portraying cosmopolitan members of high society on both sides of the Atlantic. Here, the artist depicts an acquaintance—a relative of the Colt firearms family—who had recently married his distant cousin Ralph. In her portrait, Curtis wears an elegant satin dress and poses as if she were welcoming guests into her palatial Venetian home. The painting apparently was a wedding gift to the couple by the artist; its inscription at the top right reads, "To Ralph and Mrs. Ralph, John S. Sargent 1898."
  • 1998-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
    1998
    (Christie’s, New York, Dec. 29, 1998, private treaty sale to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    Probably 1973 - probably 1998
    Patricia Curtis Viganò, Venice, Italy; Lisa Marjorie Curtis de Beaumont, France; and Ralph D. Curtis, Venice, Italy
    Probably 1936 - probably 1973
    Ralph Wormeley Curtis, Jr. [1909-1973] Venice, Italy, and Paris, France, by descent to his children Patricia Curtis Viganò, Lisa Marjorie Curtis de Beaumont, and Ralph D. Curtis
    Probably 1933 - probably 1936
    Sylvia Curtis Steinert [1899-1981], Paris and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France, to her brother, Ralph Wormeley Curtis, Jr.
    1898 - probably 1933
    Ralph Wormeley Curtis [1854-1922] and Lisette De Wolf Colt Curtis [1867-1933], Paris and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France, probably by descent to their daughter Sylvia Curtis Steinert
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 The painting apparently resided in the Villa Sylvia, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, until Sylvia Curtis Steinert sold the property upon her divorce in 1936.  Subsequently it was transferred to her brother, who resided in the family home at the Palazzo Barbaro, Venice; he is listed as the painting’s owner when it was published in 1956 and 1970.  According to Patricia Curtis Viganò, the art in the Palazzo Barbaro was crated and stored at the Doge’s Palace in Venice for safekeeping during the Second World War. 
    2 The painting, inscribed “To Ralph and Mrs. Ralph / John S. Sargent 1898,” was a wedding gift from Sargent, Ralph Wormeley Curtis’s distant cousin.  The portrait was photographed in situ at the Villa Sylvia, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat around 1927.
  • Eric Widing, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, March 20, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.
    Berendt, John. The City of Falling Angels. 2005.
    Ormond, Richard. John Singer Sargent: Paintings, Drawings, Watercolors. New York: Harper & Row, 1970.

    McKibben, David, Sargent’s Boston, with an Essay & a Biographical Summary & A Complete Check List of Sargent’s Portraits. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1956.
    Cox, E.H.M., “Houses & Gardens of the Riviera: Villa Sylvia, Cap Ferrat, The Home of Mrs. Lisa Curtis, Country Life 61 (January 15, 1927): 91
    Downes, William Howe. John S. Sargent: His Life and Work. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1925.
    Cleveland Museum of Art, “Little-Known Masterpiece by John Singer Sargent Acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art,” November 27, 1998, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 39 no. 01, January 1999 Mentioned & reproduced: cover, p. 3 archive.org
    Adams, Henry. What's American about American art?: a gallery tour in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2008. Reproduced: p. 106 - 107
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 51
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Masterworks on Loan: Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Cleveland Museum of Art: July Through September 2016. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. Reproduced: p. 13
    Mamoli Zorzi, Rosella. Ralph W. Curtis, un Pittore Americano a Venezia: Biografia. Venezia Lido: Supernova, 2019. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 116, fig. 108
  • Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Gondola Days: Isabella Stewart Gardner and the Palazzo Barbaro Circle (21 April-15 August 2004); illus. fig. 48, p. 73, listed p. 275 as Lisa Curtis; pp. 70-75.
    Gondola Days: Isabella Stewart Gardner and the Palazzo Barbaro Circle. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA (organizer) (April 20-August 15, 2004).
    Ferrara, Italy, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Sargent and Italy (22 September 2002-6 January 2003); traveled to Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2 February-11 May 2003); to Denver, Denver Art Museum (28 June-21 September 2003); illus. p. 165.
    Sargent and Italy. Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara (Galleria d'Arte Moderna et Contemporanea) (September 29, 2002-January 6, 2003); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (February 9-May 11, 2003); Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (June 21-September 14, 2003).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of Lisa Colt Curtis|url=false|author=John Singer Sargent|year=1898|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1998.168