Sketch of a Cherub, after a Sculpture 1868 - 1869

Curator: This is John Singer Sargent’s "Sketch of a Cherub, after a Sculpture," held here at the Harvard Art Museums. I see it as a whisper. Editor: Yes, a whisper of something...melancholic. There’s a vulnerability in the cherub's pose, a quiet resignation. It challenges the traditional associations with cherubs as symbols of joy. Curator: Precisely. Sargent, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, here captures the enduring image of the cherub—a symbol laden with cultural memory, from antiquity to the Renaissance and beyond. Editor: But by sketching a sculpture, he's adding layers of mediation. Whose narrative is he reflecting? Is it about innocence, or perhaps about the expectations projected onto youth? Curator: Perhaps both. Sargent's loose lines suggest a fleeting observation. He's not just copying; he's interpreting the symbol and inviting us to reconsider its meaning. Editor: It is a reminder that even the most persistent symbols are open to reinterpretation, reshaped by the artist's hand and our own perspectives. Curator: Indeed, a poignant reflection on how images carry weight, and how that weight shifts across time.