Boston is small for a
“big city.” This was certainly true for the Gibson family’s upper- class social
circles in the nineteenth century. They married into their friends’ families
and were business partners with their neighbors. It’s true for me, too, when I
discover that a new friend went to my university, or I unexpectedly attend the
same event as a colleague. The more time one spends here, the easier it becomes
to recognize the interconnectedness of people and places. It’s also true for
the Gibson House Museum in its many connections to other historic organizations
throughout the greater-Boston area.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
 |
The
Daughters of Edward Darley Boit
John Singer Sargent
Image courtesy of the Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston.
|
This well-known
Sargent painting hangs in the new American Wing at the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston (MFA). The four girls pictured are the daughters of Edward and Isa Boit,
as the title informs. The room is in their Paris apartment, which they moved
into after leaving 110 Beacon Street, Boston—just three houses down from the
Gibson family. In addition to being neighbors, Charles and Rosamond Gibson were
friends of the Boits and both were members of their wedding party.
