Portrait of Charles Napier Hemy

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925)

Falmouth Art Gallery

1905

Sargent painted this emotionally charged portrait of his friend Hemy after the tragic death of another friend earlier in the year. It is very different from the bravado style of Sargent's society portraits and is painted with an honest simplicity and compassionate warmth that places it firmly among his greatest masterpieces. Charles Napier Hemy was Falmouth's first Royal Academician and one of the founding members of the first Falmouth Art Gallery. Falmouth purchased a seascape by Hemy with an Art Fund grant in 2008.

• Medium: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 67.3 x 51.8cm
• Art Fund Grant: £62000 ( Total: £285,000)
• ArtFunded in: 2009
• Vendor: JA Napier Hemy

Provenance

By descent through the sitter's family.

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