Sotheby’s has brokered the sale of John Singer Sargent’s Game of Bowls to the National Trust’s Ightham Mote, the property in Kent that is depicted in the painting.
Image copyright Sotheby’s.
In 1889, the artist John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) visited the 14th century manor house Ightham Mote in Kent and painted a picture of its occupants playing a game of bowls.
The property at the time was being rented by Mary Lincoln ‘Queen’ Palmer, the wife of American railroad engineer William Jackson Palmer. Singer Sargent depicted her with her daughter Elsie and his own sister Violet on the North Lawn of the property, which is now owned by the National Trust.