JOHN SINGER SARGENT (1856-1925)
A Mountain Sheepfold in the Tyrol1914-1528 1/4 x 36 in.(71.12 x 91.44 cm) oil on canvas
Provenance
Knoedler & Co., direct from the Artist, 1915Henry Clay Frick, New York, New York, 1916
Louis Cass Ledyard, gifted from above
Massachusetts Collection, c. 1985
Private Collection
Exhibition
New York, New York, M. Knoedler & Co., 1915, loaned by the ArtistHouston, Texas, Meredith Long, 1980s
New York, New York, Adelson Galleries, c. 1990
Literature
Nathaniel Pousette-Dart and Lee Woodward Ziegler, Distinguished American artists, John Singer Sargent, New York, 1924, n.p, illustratedWilliam Howe Downes, John Singer Sargent...More..., His Life and Works, Boston, 1925, p. 248, 300
Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: Complete Paintings Volume 9: Figures and Landscapes, 1914–1925, London, 2017, no. 1758
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Painted during John Singer Sargent's trip to the Austrian Tyrol in the summer of 1914, this work captures a moment of profound historical tension as Austria declared war on Serbia that July, placing Sargent at the threshold of the First World War. The painting offers a strikingly intimate and unexpected view of the Alpine landscape, framed from within a sheep pen with the mountain itself largely cropped from sight. This choice of vantage point shifts the viewers focus to the meeting point of the valley and the rising slope, where deep verdant greens anchor the composition and an overcast sky suggests a subtle sense of unease beyond the tranquil pastoral foreground.
The work is included in the Sargent catalogue raisonne by Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, confirming its secure place within the artists documented production. Sargent created several related works during his 1914 stay in the Tyrol across both oil and watercolor, including Tyrolese Interior at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Woodsheds Tyrol at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Trout Stream in the Tyrol at the de Young Museum. Together these works demonstrate Sargent's sustained engagement with the region and its distinctive light, atmosphere, and rural architecture during this pivotal year.
This painting also carries distinguished provenance, having been previously held in the collection of Henry Clay Frick, the American industrialist and founder of the Frick Collection, before being given as a gift to his friend and lawyer Louis Cass Ledyard, who also served as counsel to J P Morgan. Its rarity within Sargents mature Tyrolean subjects is further underscored by the small number of comparable works that have reached the market, with only one closely related painting from this period, A Tyrolese Crucifix from 1915, having appeared at auction in recent decades.
Sargents work continues to receive major institutional recognition, including the forthcoming exhibition Sargent Dazzling Paris at the Musee d Orsay in 2025 to 2026, reaffirming the ongoing relevance of his mature European landscapes within the broader narrative of early twentieth century art.
The work is included in the Sargent catalogue raisonne by Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, confirming its secure place within the artists documented production. Sargent created several related works during his 1914 stay in the Tyrol across both oil and watercolor, including Tyrolese Interior at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Woodsheds Tyrol at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Trout Stream in the Tyrol at the de Young Museum. Together these works demonstrate Sargent's sustained engagement with the region and its distinctive light, atmosphere, and rural architecture during this pivotal year.
This painting also carries distinguished provenance, having been previously held in the collection of Henry Clay Frick, the American industrialist and founder of the Frick Collection, before being given as a gift to his friend and lawyer Louis Cass Ledyard, who also served as counsel to J P Morgan. Its rarity within Sargents mature Tyrolean subjects is further underscored by the small number of comparable works that have reached the market, with only one closely related painting from this period, A Tyrolese Crucifix from 1915, having appeared at auction in recent decades.
Sargents work continues to receive major institutional recognition, including the forthcoming exhibition Sargent Dazzling Paris at the Musee d Orsay in 2025 to 2026, reaffirming the ongoing relevance of his mature European landscapes within the broader narrative of early twentieth century art.