Rare photo – Sargent Drawing Ethel Barrymore

Sargent Drawing Ethel Barrymore Photo 1903

The drawing may be original or may be a print of a  Sargent “Mug” which is then inscribed by Ethel Barrymore which she may have given out to close friends. Another drawing — original I assume — has turned up at Adelson Galleries — see below. There is obviously a difference between the two. It appears that Sargent did more than one drawing — this one above being the main one. However my feeling is that Ethel wouldn’t have signed an original — I mean she might have been vain but that’s pretty extreme, and I’m finding other instances where the sitter had prints made of Sargent’s “Mug” drawing which they then gave out to close intimates. That may be what this is.

In her autobiography, Ethel used a print of Sargent’s “Mug” on the dust jacket which was discovered recently by the JSS Gallery’s own Francesca Miller — (see thumbnail right).

I would think whether it is a print or a charcoal on paper original could be pretty easily determined

It is fortunate that we have a photograph of him drawing her

Source:  http://jssgallery.org/Paintings/Mugs/EthelBarrymore2nd.html