Night

John Singer Sargent|Michelangelo Buonarroti

1870 · Graphite on off-white wove paper · The American Wing

Sargent was born in Florence to American parents and spent much of his childhood in Italy. As an aspiring young painter, he understood that the study of the works of the great artists were essential to his artistic education. Sargent particularly admired the Renaissance master Michelangelo, whose presence was felt throughout Florence, where Sargent lived with his family in the late 1860s and early 1870s. Sargent made this sketch after Michelangelo’s Night (1519–34), on the tomb of Giuliano de Medici in the Medici Chapel in the church of San Lorenzo, Florence, when he was just fourteen years old. Traces of adjusted contour lines suggest that the young Sargent had some trouble rendering Night’s difficult pose: he elongated her twisted torso and struggled to portray her left foot, arms, and head.

Artist

John Singer Sargent|Michelangelo Buonarroti

Date

1870

Medium

Graphite on off-white wove paper

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Francis Ormond, 1950