Egyptian Indigo Dyers
John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925), 1891
oil on canvas, 81 cm x 63 cm
Credits: The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
John Singer Sargent’s Egyptian Indigo Dyers affords a glimpse of daily life in the Middle East, as he had experienced it on one of his own trips there. The three men in this painting wear rather sloppy turbans. Their hands are stained blue from the dye they work with.
Singer Sargent did not embellish reality. Instead, he presented an authentic picture of the ancient craft of indigo dying, which had a long tradition in Egypt. In this he distinguished himself from many other artists, who returned from they journeys to the Orient with idealized scenes.
The Mesdag Collection is the only museum in the Netherlands with a painting by the famous American portraitist Singer Sargent.
- Object number
- hwm0302
- Dimensions
- 81 cm x 63 cm, 92 cm x 74.5 cm, 7 cm
- Provenance
- Acquired by Hendrik Willem Mesdag, The Hague, in or after 1899; Collection Museum Mesdag donated by Hendrik Willem Mesdag and Sientje Mesdag-van Houten to the State of the Netherlands, 14 May 1903; Rijksmuseum H.W. Mesdag, The Hague, from 1 August 1903; in trust of the Mauritshuis, The Hague, between 1934 and 1990; in trust of the Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, from 1 April 1990; Museum Mesdag, in trust of the Van Gogh Museum Foundation, Amsterdam, from 1 July 1994, under the name of De Mesdag Collectie from 2011.
- artist
- John Singer Sargent
- Credits
- The Mesdag Collection, The Hague
Dijk, Maite van, Suijver, Renske, Fitski, M., Smits, C., De Mesdag Collectie, Amsterdam, 2011, p. 21, p. 32
Dijk, Maite van, Suijver, Renske, Fitski, M., Smits, C., The Mesdag Collection, Amsterdam, 2011, p. 20, 32
Ormond, Richard Louis, Kilmurray, Elaine, Finnegan, R.H., John Singer Sargent : figures and landscapes 1883-1899 : complete paintings V, New Haven, 2010, no. 939
Bodt, Saskia de, Leeman, Fred, Leeuw, Ronald de, Pennock, Hanna, Museum Mesdag : catalogue of paintings and drawings, Zwolle, 1996, p. 212, 400
Pennock, Hanna, Museum Mesdag : een selectie uit de verzameling, p. 10