Sergeant of the Colonial Regiment

The work is an oil on canvas portrait executed circa 1906–1907. Marquet painted the figure on a canvas support, employing the loose brushwork and vivid coloration characteristic of his early Fauvist phase; the composition shows a half‑figure of a moustached sergeant in a three‑quarter view, seated on a chair and dressed in a colonial French uniform. The painting belongs to a small group of portraits by an artist best known for landscapes, and critics have noted its Fauvist influence.

The New York version, acquired by Robert Lehman in 1949 and later entered the Met’s Lehman Collection (1975.1.192), is displayed in Gallery 962; a second copy resides in the Musée des Beaux‑Arts, Bordeaux (acquired 1960). The work is conserved in the museum’s collection.

Albert Marquet created two versions of Sergeant of the Colonial Regiment around 1906–1907, depicting an assistant to a quartermaster-corporal of the French colonial army. The New York version, an oil on canvas measuring 90.2 by 71.1 cm, portrays the subject as a half-length figure. This specific work was acquired in Paris in 1949 by the banker and collector Robert Lehman.

It entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1975 as part of the Robert Lehman Collection, receiving the accession number 1975.1.192. A second, full-length version of the same subject is held by the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux, which purchased that version in 1960. Both paintings are noted as rare portraits by the artist, who was primarily known for landscapes, and reflect the influence of Fauvism on his early career.

Albert Marquet's 1907 painting, Sergeant of the Colonial Regiment, is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it is displayed in Gallery 962. The work entered the museum's collection in 1975 as part of the Robert Lehman Collection, bearing the accession number 1975.1.192. Robert Lehman originally acquired the piece in Paris in 1949.

A second version of the work, depicting the subject in full length rather than as a bust, is held by the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux. This Bordeaux variant was acquired by the museum in 1960 and assigned the inventory number Bx 1960.4.19. Both versions represent rare portrait examples from the artist's early career.

Albert Marquet's 1906‑1907 oil on canvas, Sergeant of the Colonial Regiment, is recognized as one of the artist’s rare portraiture pieces and as an early manifestation of Fauvist tendencies in his work (3,4). The painting portrays an assistant to a quartermaster‑corporal of the Troupes coloniales, reflecting French colonial military subjects (3,4). Both a full‑length version in Bordeaux’s Musée des Beaux‑Arts and a half‑figure version in the Metropolitan Museum of Art were produced around 1906‑07 (3,4,5).

The New York version entered the Met’s collection through Robert Lehman’s 1949 acquisition and its 1975 donation (4). Scholars cite the work as emblematic of Marquet’s brief engagement with colonial portraiture and as a key example for understanding the crossover between early modernist style and colonial imagery (3).

Sergeant of the Colonial Regiment is recognized as one of the few portraits produced by Albert Marquet, an artist otherwise known primarily as a landscape painter, and it is cited as an example of Fauvism's influence on his early work. The painting's significance is reflected in its dual preservation: the Metropolitan Museum of Art version entered the Robert Lehman Collection after being acquired in Paris in 1949 by banker and collector Robert Lehman, joining the museum in 1975, while a second version was purchased by the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux in 1960. The existence of two related canvases, one a full-length seated portrait in Bordeaux and the other a half-length version in New York, has contributed to the work's standing as a notable, if atypical, entry within Marquet's oeuvre.

Albert Marquet's "Sergeant of the Colonial Regiment," an oil on canvas painting from 1906-1907, is housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This artwork depicts a single figure, an assistant from the French colonial army, rendered with a direct approach. It stands out as one of the artist's relatively rare forays into portraiture during his formative years.