This 1903 charcoal portrait of Ethel Barrymore by John Singer Sargent was part of an exhibition of Sargent Charcoals at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.
The American actress Ethel Barrymore hailed from a long line of theatrical performers. Her great-grandmother began the family tradition in the mid-nineteenth century, and her grandniece Drew Barrymore sustains it today. Barrymore made her stage debut at the age of fourteen. Over six decades, her career evolved with the times to encompass film, radio, and television appearances. When the Actors' Equity Association was founded in 1913, she became an ardent supporter. Fifteen years later, the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City was built and named in her honor.
Barrymore's radiant stage presence captivated audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. Winston Churchill proposed marriage; Sargent proposed a portrait. After seeing her perform in Boston in 1903, the artist wrote: “I would like to do a drawing of you, and I would be so honored to present you with the drawing afterward.” Barrymore agreed, later describing this charcoal portrait as “quite my most treasured possession.” -- NPG
To Miss Ethel Barrymore
John S. Sargent 1903
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