SACHS, Dr. Bernard

The sitter was born in Baltimore on January 2, 1858, and died in New York on October 26, 1943. He studied medicine at Harvard, and at the University of Strassburg. He married firstly Bettina R. Stein on December 18, 1887, and had the following children: Alice (Mrs. Jacob. M. Plaut, the mother of art historian James Sachs Plaut, founder of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston) and Helen (Mrs. Nathan Straus); he married in 1940 Rosetta Kaskel. He was affiliated with the Bellevue and Mount Sinai hospitals, and a consultant at the Manhattan State Hospital, Montefiore Home. He was director of Child Neurology Research of the Friedsam Foundation, and Professor of Clinical Neurology and the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He published many medical books. He lived at the end of his life at 2, West 59th Street, New York.

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Two letters, written by the sitter from 116 West 59th Street, New York, and in the artist’s papers are relevant here. The first is dated March 1, 1915:

‘My dear Mr. Muller-Ury,

I am certain you will be glad to hear that your portrait of me has given the most intense pleasure and satisfaction to Mrs. Sachs, to Helen and to my entire family. All are agreed that it is a splendid portrait, painted in masterly fashion, and most life-like. Innumerable friends have seen it: every one approves of it, and many, whose opinions are worth having, find it “one of the best portraits” they have ever seen. Personally, I feel that I want to be remembered by my family and friends exactly as you have pictured me. For this, I am profoundly grateful to you. Wishing you every success & hoping to see you soon, I am,

     Faithfully yours, B. Sachs.

The other is dated May 3, 1915:

‘My dear Mr. Ury:-

Will you please accept this Ghiordes rug as a slight token of my appreciation of what you have done for me. I hope the rug will look well either on your floor or hanging on that studio gallery railing.

           With renewed thanks, I am,

                        Cordially yours, B. Sachs.’

However, with the two month’s gap between the two letters it is possible that the rug is a token given for yet another picture.