Study of Two Bedouins

Against a background evoking a parched, tawny desert, two men wrapped in headdresses and woolen cloaks converse in quiet intimacy.

The artist was John Singer Sargent, painting around 1905 to 1906.

At the time, he stood at the absolute pinnacle of high-society portraiture in Britain and America. Yet he was actively searching for a way to break free from that world entirely. Steadfastly turning down new commissions, he threw himself into an ambitious research expedition to the Middle East.

He had a singular purpose: to paint the monumental mural Triumph of Religion for the Boston Public Library. Seeking to capture the true, lifelike presence of the Old Testament prophets, he journeyed to remote regions of the Middle East, sketching nomadic tribes in painstaking detail. This painting was an on-site study created to faithfully render the figures for his grand project.

The painting was acquired by Charles Deering—Sargent’s oldest and closest friend.

They first met in 1876, when Sargent was just twenty years old and Deering was a young naval officer. Later achieving great success as an industrialist, Deering spent a lifetime collecting his friend’s work. He gathered not only grand, official portraits, but also intimate, personal studies born when the artist escaped his societal obligations to pursue pure artistic exploration. This painting was obtained directly from Sargent himself.