Editing John Singer Sargent (section)

===Other work===

[[File:John Singer Sargent - Atlas and the Hesperides, 1922-1925.jpg|thumb|upright|right|''Atlas and the Hesperides'', 1922–1925, mural, [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]]]]

As a concession to the insatiable demand of wealthy patrons for portraits, Sargent dashed off hundreds of rapid charcoal portrait sketches, which he called "Mugs". Forty-six of these, spanning the years 1890–1916, were exhibited at the [[Royal Society of Portrait Painters]] in 1916.<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.jssgallery.org/Resources/Exhibitions/1916_Royal_Society_of_Portrait_Painters.htm |title=Exhibitions – 1916, Royal Society of Portrait Painters, hosted at the Grafton Galleries |website=www.jssgallery.org}}</ref>

All of Sargent's murals are to be found in the Boston/Cambridge area in Massachusetts. They are in the [[Boston Public Library, McKim Building|Boston Public Library]], the [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston|Museum of Fine Arts]], and Harvard's [[Widener Library]]. Sargent's largest scale works are the mural decorations ''Triumph of Religion'' that grace the Boston Public Library, depicting the history of religion and the gods of polytheism.<ref>[http://www.sargentmurals.bpl.org The Sargent Murals at the Boston Public Library] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050602080145/http://www.sargentmurals.bpl.org/ |date=June 2, 2005 }}</ref> They were attached to the walls of the library by means of [[marouflage]]. He worked on the cycle for almost thirty years but never completed the final mural. Sargent drew on his extensive travels and museum visits to create a dense art historical mélange. The murals were most recently restored in 2003–2004 by a team from the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, [[Harvard Art Museums]].<ref>Khandekar, Pocobene & Smith (2009).</ref>

[[File:John Singer Sargent, Synagogue, 1919.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''Synagogue'', 1919, mural, [[Boston Public Library]]]]

Sargent worked on the murals from 1895 through 1919; they were intended to show religion's (and society's) progress from pagan superstition up through the ascension of Christianity, concluding with a painting depicting Jesus delivering the [[Sermon on the Mount]]. But Sargent's paintings of "The Church" and "[[Synagogue (John Singer Sargent)|The Synagogue]]", installed in late 1919, inspired a debate about whether the artist had represented Judaism in a stereotypical, or even an anti-Semitic, manner.<ref>"New Painting at Public Library Stirs Jews to Vigorous Protest". Donald Hendersonsyn ''The Boston Globe'', November 9, 1919, p. 48.</ref> Drawing upon iconography that was used in medieval paintings, Sargent portrayed Judaism and the synagogue as a blind, ugly hag, and Christianity and the church as a lovely, radiant young woman. He also failed to understand how these representations might be problematic for the Jews of Boston; he was both surprised and hurt when the paintings were criticized.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.bpl.org/central/sargenttriumph.htm |title=BPL - Art -- Sargent Murals |access-date=July 31, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121006175232/http://www.bpl.org/central/sargenttriumph.htm |archive-date=October 6, 2012}}</ref> The paintings were objectionable to Boston Jews since they seemed to show Judaism defeated, and Christianity triumphant.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.forward.com/articles/129815/ |title=Jenna Weissman Joselit: Restoring the 'American Sistine Chapel'... How Sargent's 'Synagogue' Provoked a Nation – Forward.com |date=August 4, 2010 |work=The Jewish Daily Forward}}</ref> The Boston newspapers also followed the controversy, noting that while many found the paintings offensive, not everyone agreed. In the end, Sargent abandoned his plan to finish the murals, and the controversy eventually died down.

Upon his return to England in 1918 after a visit to the United States, Sargent was commissioned as a war artist by the British [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Information]]. In his large painting ''[[Gassed (painting)|Gassed]]'' and in many watercolors, he depicted scenes from the [[World War I|Great War]].<ref>Little (1998), p. 135.</ref> Sargent had been affected by the death of his niece Rose-Marie in the shelling of the [[Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais|St Gervais church]], Paris, on Good Friday 1918.<ref name="McCouat" />