The Marlborough Family, (painting).

The Marlborough Family, (painting).

Sargent, John Singer, 1856-1925, painter.

The Marlborough Family, (painting).

113 x 94 in. (287 x 238.7 cm)

(Lower left:) John S. Sargent 1905 signed

Portrait of the Marlborough family standing in Blenheim's Great Hall between two columns with the Blenheim and Family Royal standards hanging above. A portrait bust statue is at top center and two carved bas-reliefs are on either side. The Duchess (1877-1934) stands at center on a step, so as to appear the tallest. She wears a black gown with rose-colored sleeves. She holds her son, John Albert Edward William Spencer-Churchill, Marquis of Blandford (1897-1972), with her on the raised step. The Marquis wears a white and gold costume. He holds a dog on a leash with his left hand (the dog is posed in mid-leap) and with his right hand he touches the sword of his father, the ninth Duke of Marlborough (1871-1934), who stands at left. The Duke wears dark robes and stands with his right hand on his hip and his left foot on the step where his wife and son stand. He holds a sword in his left hand. The younger son, Lord Ivor Charles Spencer Churchill (1898-1958) stands at right and holds a dog in his arms. He wears a blue velvet costume and holds the rose and black train of his mother's dress.

Portrait group -- Family

Portrait male -- Marlborough, Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill, Duke of, -- Full length

Portrait female -- Marlborough, Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill, Mrs. (Consuelo Vanderbilt), Duchess of -- Full length

Portrait male -- Blandford, John Albert Edward William Spencer-Churchill, Marquis of, -- Child

Portrait male -- Blandford, John Albert Edward William Spencer-Churchill, Marquis of, -- Full length

Portrait male -- Spencer-Churchill, Ivor Charles, Lord -- Child

Portrait male -- Spencer-Churchill, Ivor Charles, Lord -- Full length

Architecture interior -- Castle -- Blenheim Palace

Occupation -- Other -- Aristocrat

Marlborough, Duke of, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, England

Portrait has remained in the family's collection at the Blenheim Palace since its creation.

Ormond, Richard and Elaine Kilmurray, "John Singer Sargent: complete paintings; volume 3, The later portraits," New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003, no. 486.

Ormond, Richard, "John Singer Sargent: paintings, drawings, watercolors," New York: Harper & Row, 1970.

Ormond, Richard and Elaine Kilmurray, "John Singer Sargent: complete paintings; volume 3, The later portraits," New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003, pg. 145.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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