John Singer Sargent’s Triumph of Religion at the Boston Public Library: Creation and Restoration

Published in 2009 John Singer Sargent’s mural ensemble for the Boston Public Library, Triumph of Religion, was his most ambitious and imaginative achievement. Created between 1890 and 1919, it was a complete art installation, embellished with relief elements, sculptural groupings, and textured surfaces, set into Sargent’s specified architecture and accompanied by lighting the artist designed. Time and pollution diminished the power of the murals, however, and partial restorations distanced them from Sargent’s original production. This book is the story of a 2003–4 project that undertook the long-awaited comprehensive restoration of those murals. A team led by conservators and scientists at the Harvard Art Museum’s Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies not only returned the murals to their initial brilliance but also unearthed new evidence of the artist’s experimentation in creating them. The ten essays in this volume, superbly illustrated, describe the project and i