John Singer Sargent: WWI Begins

"Dolce Far Niente" by John Singer Sargent

"A spirit of isolation belonged markedly to John Singer Sargent. He read no newspapers. He had the sketchiest knowledge of current movements outside art. When the War broke out he failed at first to realize its significance. He was very slow in relating himself to it.

August, 1914, found Sargent painting in the Dolomites with Mr. and Mrs. Adrian Stokes and Colonel Ernest Armstrong in a remote part of the mountains. When news reached them that War had been declared, Sargent's sole anxiety was for the fate of his sister Emily, who was in the north of France. As soon as he heard of her safety, he began unconcernedly painting again. 

Towards the end of August Colonel Armstrong was carried off as a prisoner of war by the Austrians to Trieuil, a few hours' journey away. He was soon in difficulties with the authorities, but Sargent in the mountains 'with the high pasturing kine' went on with his painting. The War might have been in another planet for all the impression it made on his mind. At the beginning of October, having been a prisoner for more than a month, Colonel Armstrong wrote an urgent appeal to Sargent to come and see him. Sargent at last descended. He interviewed the authorities in company with an Austrian acquaintance, and as a result procured the release of his brother artist.

No sooner had Colonel Armstrong been released than Sargent withdrew again to the mountains and resumed his painting, remaining in the Tyrol till November, when he returned to England. His reaction to the War was as yet nothing more definite than mild boredom. However that may be, it was a frame of mind of short duration."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "John Sargent" by Evan Charteris.)