The Holiday Painting That Set John Singer Sargent's Auction Record
3 min read · 01 Aug 2025
Group with parasols. Image courtesy of Sotheby's
John Singer Sargent's Group With Parasols (A Siesta) (1905) sold for $21m at Sotheby's in New York on December 1, 2004.
Sargent escaped from painting commissioned portraits every summer to travel, often to the Italian Alps accompanied by family friends but he kept working. His companions often modeled for him on what were leisurely sketching expeditions. The artist's record-breaking group portrait captured four of his friends at rest, lying on a wooded hillside, mid-afternoon on a sunny day.
Group With Parasols (A Siesta) is inscribed on the back "to my friend Ginx", a reference to Leonard “Ginx” Harrison, one of Sargent's travel companions cum models in 1905.
The painting was consigned to Sotheby's in 2004 in a single-owner sale that also set a new auction record. Works from the estate of Daniel Fraad and his wife Rita totaled $65m.
The Fraads, whose fortune derived from a company suppling fuel to the aviation industry, were major collectors of American Modern art and supporters of institutions including the Whitney, Met and Brooklyn museums
Cashmere. Image courtesy of Sotheby's
The sale beat the artist’s previous auction record by $10.9m, a 100% rise. His previous record was set by Cashmere (1908), which sold for $10.1m at Sotheby's on December 5, 1996.
A Brief History of John Singer Sergent at Auction
Sale Date | Title | Price | Record Increase | Venue | City |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2004-12-01 | Group with parasols | $21m | 108 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1996-12-05 | Cashmere | $10.1m | 46 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1994-05-25 | Spanish dancer | $6.9m | 411 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1986-05-29 | Portrait of Mrs. Cecil Wade seated in an interior holding a fan | $1.35m | 145 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1981-12-11 | Women at work | $550,000 | 112 % | Christie's | New York |
1981-12-10 | Portrait of Dorothy | $260,000 | 24 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1979-06-07 | Portrait of Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland | $210,000 | 91 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1978-03-22 | Portrait of Charles Stuart Forbes | $110,000 | 9 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1975-12-02 | Pailleron children | $101,000 | 34 % | Christie's | London |
1970-12-04 | Le Docteur Pozzi dans son interieur | $75,600 | - | Rheims & Laurin | Paris |
Get the HENI News Daily Art Digest delivered to your inbox