Eustis Estate
Henry Davis Sleeper (1878–1934)
Wallace Bryant (1870–1953)
Boston, 1906
Oil on canvas
60 3/8 x 66 1/4 in.
Gift of Steven Sleeper, the sitter’s brother
1941.1703
Henry Sleeper is seen here in his late twenties, around the time he made his first visit to Gloucester, Massachusetts. The following year Sleeper purchased land there and started building the “cottage” that won him acclaim as an interior decorator, now known as Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann house, an Historic New England property. Bryant painted Sleeper at his widowed mother’s Boston house, where he still lived. Seated in a throne-like armchair with his legs crossed, Sleeper is surrounded by books and artworks that reflect his aesthetic sensibility. Highly attuned to color, Sleeper matched his tie perfectly with the oxblood vase to his right.