York Museums Trust Blog

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) was the most famous and fashionable portrait painter of his day. Born in Florence, the son of a Philadelphia doctor, he settled in London in 1885 and enjoyed an international reputation.

This beautiful drawing exemplifies Sargent’s confident draughtsmanship, his marks are full of energy and are made both with charcoal, and with the eraser.

The sitter, Lady Helen Vincent (1866-1954) was born Lady Helen Duncombe, daughter of the first Earl of Feversham of Duncombe Park, Yorkshire. In 1890 she married Edgar Vincent, later Viscount d’Abernon, and together they formed an important art collection.

During the First World War she trained as an anaesthetist treating 13,000 patients, all of whom survived the anaesthetic.

YORAG R2516 - Info by Jackie & Jenny

For an archaeologist, there’s nothing like getting your hands dirty. Wild Wednesdays (our free outdoor activities in August on - surprise, surprise - Wednesdays), and an adult education course, has given us archaeologists at the Yorkshire Museum a chance to do just that. Armed with scheduled monument consent we have been exploring the potential of archaeology in the gardens by reopening a trench dug in the 1950’s. Even better, we have been working with the York branch of the Young Archaeologists’ Club - they love a bit of digging, and normally only get one chance a year to get their trowels out, so this was a bit of a treat for all of us! We opened the trench on Friday to give them a chance to enjoy getting grubby just like we do. They trowelled, sieved their spoil and finally sorted their finds. And we didn’t even get rained on (much). I really enjoy working with people who are as enthusiastic as our YAC members (enthusiasm is so infectious!), especially when at the end of the day there’s a general chorus of “When are we diggin’ again?”.