When Daffodils At Last At The Fogg Conserved

composite image of John Singer Sargent’s Still Life, Daffodils, 1891-94, oil on canvas, 28 x 33 1/2 in,. collection Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum I’m not such a John Singer Sargent superfan that I retreat into his work for solace, but maybe a little for distraction. In 1937, years after his death, Sargent’s sister gave the Fogg Museum at Harvard a bunch of stuff from his studio, including his palette, some brushes, some tubes of paint, and an unstretched little tabletop still life of daffodils that had spent way too many years rolled up somewhere. It was in such bad condition it had never been in shown, nor was it likely to ever be, but this year Harvard Art Museums conservation fellow Saffie Patel used a bunch of meticulous and innovative techniques to stabilize the gauzy little painting, and now it’s on view for the first time. John Singer Sargent’s Still Life, Daffodils, a Conservation Transformation [harvardartmuseums.org]