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Today at the Museum

November 20, 2009
DAILY PUBLIC TOUR

In Pursuit of a Masterpiece

1 – 2 p.m.
The Birthday Party
Title:The Birthday Party
Artist:John Singer Sargent
Date:1887
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:24 x 29 x 3/4 in. (60.96 x 73.66 x 1.91 cm) (canvas) 23 1/2 x 28 1/2 in. (...
Creation Place:North America, United States
Credit Line:The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund and the John R. Van Derlip Fund
Accession Number:62.84
Location:G351
This vivaciously painted domestic subject belongs with a group of similar interior scenes with portraits of friends executed by Sargent in the 1880s. It depicts the family of the well-known French artists Albert Besnard (1849-1934) and his wife Charlotte Dubray (1855-1931), whom Sargent had befriended by 1883.