A Sailor and His Sweetheart

Object Details

• Artist

  Gari Melchers (1860-1932)

• Label

  Although he was born in Detroit, Gari Melchers spent much of his youth in Germany where he studied at the Royal Academy. After studio work at the Ecole des Beaux-arts in Paris, he moved to Egmond, Holland, a small fishing village on the North Sea where he painted this young sailor and his fiancee in 1898-99.

  The simplicity of his neighbors fascinated Melchers, and the sturdy, hardworking inhabitants of Egmond had a lasting impact upon the subject matter during the fifteen years that he worked in Holland. The artist observed the Dutch people at their daily tasks, transferring these impressions to the canvas with great attention to detail and qualities of texture. His works are filled with sympathetic portraits of young mothers with their children and church congregations at prayer.

  Melcher's early works such as A Sailor and His Sweetheart are solidly and compactly modeled with a well-controlled brushstroke. The artist built up his forms with a rather thick application of pigments. Later works, on the other hand, while still quite heavily painted, employ a greater looseness and sketchlike quality. A quick, impressionistic brushstroke was quite appropriately used to reneder the landscapes and intimate views which Melchers later saw near his estate, called Belmont, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he lived out his later years.

  Melchers undertook careful prepatory studies before embarking upon a large canvas like A Sailor and His Sweetheart. A very handsome pastel drawing of the sailor's head and an equally fine oil sketch for the young woman is preserved at Belmont.

  This painting was immediately exhibited at the Paris Salon after it was completed by the artist. From Paris it went to the Carnegie Insitute where it was shown and purchased by the trustees for their permanent collection. After the work was returned to Melchers, it was purchased by Freer.

• Provenance

  From 1898-1899 to 1913

  Gari Melchers (1860-1932), from 1898-1899 to February 1913 [1]

  From 1913 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Gari Melchers on February 13, 1913 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] Object file, folder sheet.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  American Paintings (September 10, 1981 to March 12, 1984)

  American Paintings (October 14, 1978 to March 18, 1981)

  American Paintings (November 11, 1976 to October 12, 1978)

  American Paintings (July 1, 1974 to December 5, 1975)

  American Paintings (September 8, 1961 to May 2, 1973)

  Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings, 1958 (June 29, 1958 to October 27, 1959)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 8 and 9 (February 25, 1956 to April 28, 1958)

  Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings, Gallery 3, 1947 (September 25, 1947 to April 12, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings, Gallery 4, 1947 (September 25, 1947 to February 25, 1956)

  Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings, 1944 (March 23, 1944 to November 15, 1944)

  Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings (May 1, 1933 to February 6, 1944)

  American Paintings by Dewing, Sargeant, Homer, Tryon, Brush, Melchers and Whistler (March 23, 1925 to May 5, 1933)

  American Paintings, Miscellaneous (May 2, 1923 to March 23, 1925)

  Paintings by Gari Melchers, 1919 (April 4 to May 1, 1919)

  Paintings by Gari Melchers, 1918 (1918)

  Panama-Pacific International Exposition (February 20 to December 4, 1915)

  Inaugural Exhibition, The Toledo Museum of Art (January 17 to February 12, 1912)

  Untitled Exhibition, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1904 (1904)

  Untitled, Paris Salon, 1899 (1889)

  The Third Annual Exhibition, Carnegie Institute (November 03, 1898 - January 01, 1899)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Gari Melchers (1860-1932) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  United States

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1890s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Melchers, Gari

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Lovers, Design, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, American Art, Interior decoration, Portraits

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Paintings