{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1101779"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1101779/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AN2423/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AN2423/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AN2423","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1101779/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1101779","accessionNumber":"1354-1929","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This is part of a group of 611 photographs which once belonged to John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). The collection was presented to the Victoria and Albert Museum by the painter’s sisters, Emily Sargent and Violet Sargent Ormond, in August 1925, shortly after his death. Two months before, the sisters had donated a watercolour by the artist (Inv. no. P.2-1921), and they later gifted a tapestry-covered chair (Inv. no. W.39-1926).\r\nThe photographs reflect Sargent’s travelling lifestyle and breadth of artistic interests. The majority show architecture, sculpture and other art objects from a great variety of countries including Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, the United States and India. Sargent visited some of these countries in order to conduct research for The Triumph of Religion, his major mural project in the Boston Public Library (1890-1916). Although Sargent is known to have been an amateur photographer, it appears that most of the donated photographs were probably purchased from local professional photographers. \r\nAt the time of the donation, the collection was valued as an educational resource; the Museum wrote to thank the sisters for the photographs, which they affirmed would “prove very useful in the Library Photograph Collection, and the Sculpture Department,” and they were soon separated and classified geographically according to their content.\r\n","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Galdi, Vincenzo","id":"AUTH337196"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"x43821"},"note":"Attributed to Galdi, previously thought to have been by Wilhelm von Gloeden"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"albumen process","id":"AAT133274"},{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Albumen print","categories":[{"text":"Gender and Sexuality","id":"THES48940"},{"text":"LGBTQ","id":"THES266921"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006AN2423"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"X","shelf":"410","box":"A"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1890s","earliest":"1890-01-01","latest":"1899-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"32.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"26","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This photograph is one of a group belonging to the painter John Singer Sargent, which were presented to the museum by his sister Emily after his death.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph possibly by Vincenzo Galdi (previously thought to be by Wilhelm von Gloeden), Nude (art study), albumen print, c. 1890s","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"This photograph was previously thought to be by Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden was one of the earliest gay photographers of the male nude. His best known images were enormously popular among in the Victorian age and depict young men and teenage boys acting out Homeric themes and 'classical' fantasies.  Many of his other images, which once totalled over 3,000, are simple, elegant studies of the male nude.  The bulk of his photographs were made between 1890 and 1914 in Taormina, Sicily, and belong to a generation of pictures that romanticized pastoral life in the wake of the Industrial Revolution.  Around 1000 of his glass negatives were completely destroyed by Mussolini's Fascist police in the late 1930s, and many more irreparably damaged as they were seized as evidence in a vice-squad campaign.\n\r\nThe Baron's wealth certainly smoothed a path towards a general tolerance over his open homosexuality in the otherwise staunchly traditional community he lived in. Not only did he employ several of his young models as domestic servants, he financed many local businesses also and funded dowries for young couples in the village to marry. Despite the village's strong Catholic dogmas, von Gloeden was thus able to procure its sons for both his camera's gaze and his sexual tourism.  He also hosted guests from all over Europe, presumably for similar purposes, including Oscar Wilde.  Indeed, many of his photographs were printed in postcard format, as if to capture both the cultural exoticism and sexual availability of the local boys in true souvenir fashion.  \n\nVon Gloeden's work is generally remarkable for its technical innovations in outdoor photography, and its proud homoerotic content.  As much as he has been mythologized as a generous benefactor and hero of gay photography, his work is not without problems in relation to the power dynamics of his presence amongst these younger men and adolescents in an impoverished village in Sicily during the fin de siècle.\n\r\nText adapted by the LGBTQ Network from 'Encyclopedia Copyright © 2015, glbtq, Inc.'.\r\n"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"homoerotic","id":"x34639"},{"text":"gay","id":"THES266884"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<b>Gallery 100, 2016-17:</b>\n\nProbably by Vincenzo Galdi (1871–1961)\r\nNude Study\r\nAbout 1900\n\r\nThis photograph once belonged to the artist John Singer Sargent. He collected photographs such as this, which likely inspired his own drawings of male nudes. These were kept secret during his lifetime. The image was once thought to have been taken by Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden, one of the earliest photographers to specialise in the male nude.\n\r\nAlbumen print\r\nOne of a group of photographs belonging to John Singer Sargent, presented to the V&amp;A by his sister Emily after his death\r\nMuseum no. Ph.1354-1929","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["1354-1929"],"accessionNumberNum":"1354","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1929,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2009-07-01","availableToBook":false}}