Sketchbook ("1912 ?"): Sketches for "Hell" and "Judgment" Lunettes, Boston Public Library 1895 - 1916

Curator: Here we have a sketchbook by John Singer Sargent, dated circa 1912, containing studies for his murals in the Boston Public Library. Editor: It’s such a humble object, isn’t it? The worn cover speaks volumes even before we open it and glimpse the inferno within. Curator: Absolutely. These sketches offer invaluable insight into Sargent's process. He was deeply engaged with themes of religious allegory and these studies are crucial to understanding his vision. Editor: One can almost feel the weight of judgment, the inescapable consequences he wanted to evoke in those lunettes. Look closely and you will see how Sargent uses symbolic figures to express a timeless struggle between damnation and redemption. Curator: His academic training shines through, but these drawings also show how Sargent wrestled with modernism and pushed against prevailing artistic conventions of the time. Editor: Seeing these initial ideas really underscores how a single image can become such a powerful cultural artifact. Curator: Yes, this sketchbook is an invitation to appreciate Sargent's artistic journey and the evolution of an important public artwork.