The Sergeant Reporter
Artist
Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier
French, 1815 - 1891
Date1862
MediumEtching
DimensionsOverall: 10 5/16 × 7 5/8 in. (26.2 × 19.4 cm)
Matboard: 11 1/8 × 9 in. (28.3 × 22.9 cm)
Matboard: 11 1/8 × 9 in. (28.3 × 22.9 cm)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineThe Sparling Family Collection
Object number2025.1.54
On View
On viewMarkingsOn front bottom left corner in pencil: "M987 - 8" and "The Sargent [?]"
On verso in the center in pencil: "6873 VO"
On verso bottom right corner in pencil: "15"
DescriptionBlack line print of a sergeant with his reporter. At the center of the print, a man rests his proper left hand on a desk and leans forward to see what the man sitting behind the desk is writing. The standing man is the sergeant, dressed in a waistcoat, long coat, breeches, knee-high boots, and a black tricorn hat. At his proper left hip, the handle of a sword is holstered, and the blade extends behind the man's legs. At the desk, a man also dressed in a long coat and breeches, sits hunched over on a wooden bench with his back to the viewer. He is looking down, with a quill in his proper right hand, in the middle of writing. The surrounding environment of this scene is sparse, minus the outline of a chair to the right of the desk and another chair with fabric draped over it behind the sergeant.Exhibition History"French Prints from the Tobin Sparling Collection," The Hyde Collection, Hoopes Gallery, Feb. 14-July 26, 2026.ProvenanceMrs. George A. Martin, Cleveland, Ohio; Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio; (Rachel Davis Fine Arts Sale, Cleveland, Ohio [1], March 20, 2010); purchased by Tobin Sparling, Little Rock, Arkansas, March 20, 2010; given to The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, New York, 2025.[1] The donor's notes list this piece as being acquired from an auction of prints from the Baldwin-Wallace College Department of Art run by Rachel Davis Fine Arts who the college cosigned the pieces to
