Study for the Head of Pan, for "Classic and Romantic Art," Museum of Fine Arts, Boston c. 1916 - 1922

Curator: John Singer Sargent’s "Study for the Head of Pan" looks almost like a fleeting thought, sketched onto paper. There's a real sense of immediacy. Editor: Immediacy is right. The raw pencil marks create a sense of volume and shadow, a kind of visual layering that speaks to the process. It's the labor of seeing right there on the page. Curator: Absolutely, and it's intriguing to consider this in relation to Pan, the god of the wild—the sketch itself feels untamed, doesn’t it? It’s as if Sargent is capturing Pan’s elusive spirit. Editor: I see that. Given that this was preparatory work for a mural, I'm also curious how the final, presumably more polished, version might contrast with this sketch, and the materiality behind the shift. Curator: That's the magic, isn't it? How an artist's initial spark transforms into something grander, more permanent. You see his spirit unleashed here in the study that gets tamed in the final product. Editor: Precisely. It’s a chance to contemplate the evolution from raw material to finished form, and all the work contained therein.