Katharine Chase Pratt

Artist John Singer Sargent (American, 1856–1925)

Date1890

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionscanvas: 101.9 × 76.7 cm (40 1/8 × 30 3/16 in.)
framed: 121.9 × 96.5 × 4.4 cm (48 × 38 × 1 3/4 in.)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of William I. Clark

Terms

Object number1983.36

Label TextWorcester history abounds in Sargent’s painting of Katharine Chase Pratt. In the summer of 1890, the artist began painting the young Katharine at the home of her father Frederick Sumner Pratt, a Worcester native who became the Museum’s acting director (1908-17). However, dissatisfied with the results, Sargent quickly abandoned his sketch to paint a second formal version, which achieved favor at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. In this original unfinished portrait, Sargent sensitively depicts Katharine as an adolescent girl reaching womanhood. The warm, reflective lighting of this outdoor setting illuminates Katharine among the surrounding hydrangeas. Her blushed countenance and pure white muslin dress signify innocent, tender youth, typically found in other Impressionist artworks with female subjects. Yet she carries herself with a determined, mature expression, as she wistfully looks toward her future. ProvenanceJohn Singer Sargent (artist) until September 1891; gift of artist to Frederick S. Pratt, father of sitter, 1891–?; ?-1914-?then to Frederick H. Pratt, brother of sitter; then to Elizabeth Pratt Clark (Mrs. W. Irving Clark), sister of sitter, ?–1955; then to William I. Clark, nepher of the sitter, 1956–1983; gift of Clark to Worcester Art Museum, 1983.

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