Copyist at the Metropolitan Museum

1908

Copyist at the Metropolitan Museum, 1908. John Sloan (American, 1871–1951). Etching; platemark: 18.5 x 22.4 cm (7 5/16 x 8 13/16 in.); sheet: 32.4 x 45 cm (12 3/4 x 17 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. 1947.382 © Delaware Art Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York John Sloan took pleasure in satirizing his own profession and particularly the aura that surrounded some art objects, artists, and collectors. This image may express amusement at the common phenomenon of spectators taking interest in a painting only when it is admired by others. Sloan included a self-portrait and a portrait of his wife, Dolly, in the foreground. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Fifth Avenue building opened in 1902, and quickly became a leisure and culture destination for New Yorkers.