Charles Martin Loeffler
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Alsace-born Charles Martin Loeffler (1861–1935) was an outstanding violinist and composer. Trained in Paris, he moved to Boston in 1882 to become assistant concertmaster at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. For nearly twenty years he played a leading role in the musical life of the city, retiring from the orchestra in 1903 to concentrate on composition. Like Sargent, he was a close friend of Isabella Stewart Gardner, who invited him to play at her celebrated concerts. Artist and sitter first met in Boston in 1887. Loeffler admired Sargent’s musical talents, recalling, "he was in music as in all things frightfully intelligent." The portrait was painted in the Gothic Room of Fenway Court, Mrs. Gardner’s Boston home (now the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum) and presented to her for her birthday.
Artwork Details
- Title: Charles Martin Loeffler
- Artist: John Singer Sargent (American, Florence 1856–1925 London)
- Date: 1903
- Culture: American
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 34 1/4 × 24 7/16 in. (87 × 62 cm)
- Credit Line: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing