Steve Simkins

/art-calendar

17 June 2026

Life Study (Study of an Egyptian Girl)

Life Study (Study of an Egyptian Girl)

John Singer Sargent (American, 1856–1925)

Date
1891
Origin
Egypt
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
190.5 × 61 cm (75 × 24 in.)
Credit
Anonymous loan

Sargent traveled to Egypt in 1891 in search of source material for a mural commission for the Boston Public Library. Like many 19th-century Western European artists, he was drawn to the Middle East’s perceived exoticism and its ancient histories. The identity of the woman who posed in Cairo for this full-length figure study is not known. <em>Life Study</em> was widely exhibited, including at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

View on artic.edu