Dennis Miller Bunker: John Singer Sargent, Pt. 1

"Dennis Miller Bunker" by J.S. Sargent

"For the summer of 1888 Dennis Miller Bunker planned a trip abroad with John Sargent. Their original scheme included a visit to Italy but, due to the illness of Sargent's father, it was decided they should spend some weeks in England, at Calcot, near Reading.

I can find no indication of where Bunker and Sargent first met. It seems unlikely that their paths had crossed in Paris, although Sargent was living there at the time Bunker was at Gerome's atelier. But Sargent, five years older than Bunker, was already a brilliant figure in the Parisian world, while Bunker was still an obscure and very impecunious art student. It is more probably that the meeting took place in Boston, where Sargent spent several months painting portraits during the winter of 1887-88. It was certainly there that their friendship developed. The two painters doubtless saw each other at the Tavern and the St. Botolph clubs and met frequently at various Boston houses, notably at the Fairchilds' and at Mrs. John L. Gardner's.

In those days this great lady received her friends during the winter months at her home at 152 Beacon Street, moving out to her Brookline estate, Green Hill, for the spring and fall. To these houses came all that was most notable in the artistic and social life of Boston, as well as the most eminent visitors to the city. It was presumably during this winter of 1887-88 that Bunker became a member of her intimate circle, as the earliest letter of his preserved at Fenway Court is dated January, 1888. He was to find in Mrs. Gardner a devoted and understanding friend, as well as a discriminating patron for his art."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Dennis Miller Bunker" by R.H. Ives Gammell.)