Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00000273About the Artwork
One of the most sought-after painters of his era, Sargent achieved considerable critical and financial success portraying cosmopolitan members of high society on both sides of the Atlantic. Here, the artist depicts an acquaintance—a relative of the Colt firearms family—who had recently married his distant cousin Ralph. In her portrait, Curtis wears an elegant satin dress and poses as if she were welcoming guests into her palatial Venetian home. The painting apparently was a wedding gift to the couple by the artist; its inscription at the top right reads, "To Ralph and Mrs. Ralph, John S. Sargent 1898."
Inscriptions
Inscribed: To Ralph and Mrs. Ralph, John S. Sargent 1898
Provenance
1998-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio 1998: (Christie’s, New York, Dec. 29, 1998, private treaty sale to the Cleveland Museum of Art) Probably 1973 - probably 1998: Patricia Curtis Viganò, Venice, Italy; Lisa Marjorie Curtis de Beaumont, France; and Ralph D. Curtis, Venice, Italy Probably 1936 - probably 1973: Ralph Wormeley Curtis, Jr. [1909-1973] Venice, Italy, and Paris, France, by descent to his children Patricia Curtis Viganò, Lisa Marjorie Curtis de Beaumont, and Ralph D. Curtis Probably 1933 - probably 1936: Sylvia Curtis Steinert [1899-1981], Paris and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France, to her brother, Ralph Wormeley Curtis, Jr. 1898 - probably 1933: Ralph Wormeley Curtis [1854-1922] and Lisette De Wolf Colt Curtis [1867-1933], Paris and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France, probably by descent to their daughter Sylvia Curtis Steinert
Exhibition history
Sargent and Italy. Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara (Galleria d'Arte Moderna et Contemporanea) (September 29, 2002-January 6, 2003); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (February 9-May 11, 2003); Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (June 21-September 14, 2003). Gondola Days: Isabella Stewart Gardner and the Palazzo Barbaro Circle. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA (organizer) (April 20-August 15, 2004).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- John Singer Sargent (American, born Italy, 1856–1925)
- Date
- 1898
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 249 x 134 x 9.5 cm (98 1/16 x 52 3/4 x 3 3/4 in.); Unframed: 219.3 x 104.8 cm (86 5/16 x 41 1/4 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- American Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1998.168
More by John Singer Sargent in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00000273
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