About this item
This sensitive and compelling biography sheds new light on John Singer Sargent’s art through an intimate history of his family. Karen Corsano and Daniel Williman focus especially on his niece and muse, Rose-Marie Ormond, telling her story for the first time. In a score of paintings created between 1906 and 1912, John Singer Sargent documented the idyllic teenage summers of Rose-Marie and his own deepening affection for her serene beauty and good-hearted, candid charm. Rose-Marie married Robert, the only son of André Michel, the foremost art historian of his day, who had known Sargent and reviewed his paintings in the Paris Salons of the 1880s. Robert was a promising historian as well, until the Great War claimed him first as an infantry sergeant, then a victim, in 1914.
About the Author
It was in Toronto in the late '60's that Karen Corsano and Dan Williman earned the same rare graduate degree, Licentiate in Mediaeval Studies. That certificate means that they are experts in strange old handwriting, medieval Latin books, and the complex ways of European archives. Their collaborations in research and writing were dedicated to the fourteenth century until the story of John Singer Sargent and His Muse -- the painter's niece and favorite model, Rose-Marie Ormond -- claimed their attention and then their devotion. Back to the archives, in France and London and New England, back to the libraries and museums, with very happy results. Visit our web site www.corsanoandwilliman.org for more details.
