John Singer Sargent

Artist and Portrait Painter

Oct 2, 2007

Short biography of the American expatriate known for his career as a portraitist and for his notorious painting Madame X.

Early Years

John Singer Sargent was born in Italy in 1856, the child of American expatriates who had taken up the European lifestyle. Sargent showed artistic talent early on, sketching animals at the zoo as a boy then studying at Florence’s Accademia delle Belle Arti.

Following an apprenticeship with Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran, a famed and innovative portrait painter, Sargent visited the United States and found his first portrait subject. His painting of family friend Frances Watts was his entry into the 1877 Paris Salon and set him on his path of doing portraiture of the rich and famous.

The Portrait Painter

In the late 1800s, the practice of the wealthy or powerful commissioning portraits was still fairly common. Despite the newly emerging field of photography, cameras of the era were too primitive and did not capture or enhance a person’s image like a painter could. In this regard, a skilled artist could be highly favored by moneyed circles – as long as he made his subjects look good.

Sargent experienced early success as a portrait painter in Europe, but found himself in disfavor following the 1884 Paris exhibition of Madame X. This famed Sargent portrait was a notorious scandal at the time, showing the wife of banker Pierre Gautreau in a scantily strapped black velvet gown, with ivory white shoulders and cleavage openly displayed.

Sargent went to England and rode out the uproar from a distance, and soon enough his reputation rebounded. Author Henry James was a great fan of Sargent’s, and Sargent was also given the opportunity to paint another writer, Robert Louis Stevenson. With his innate ability to combine talent along with a keen perception of his subject, Sargent’s portraits of Stevenson became some of his finest works.

English and American Fame

Sargent alternated between England and the United States throughout the rest of his life and drew high commissions for his paintings of the British and American upper classes. He was an official appointed artist of World War I and produced the intense painting Gassed, which shows the trauma of soldiers suffering from the effects of toxic chemicals used on the battlefield. Sargent was also made a member of the British Royal Academy of Artists, and while he was recommended for knighthood, he declined the honor.

Legacy

In 1907, Sargent decided that he’d had enough of portraiture and spent his remaining years focusing on paintings and sketches made throughout his travels. Sargent preferred the convenience and quickness of using watercolors while traveling, and his works in that medium are often noted as brilliantly expert, particularly in the portrayal of light.

John Singer Sargent died in 1925. His paintings are on display in visiting exhibits throughout the world, but in a more permanent sense, Sargent’s series of murals The Triumph of Religion at The Boston Public Library has inspired controversy and fascination for nearly a hundred years. Sargent toured the Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa to research this work, which depicts religious practices and gods from ancient times through the early 20th century.

Sargent’s Gassed is on view at London’s Imperial War Museum, and the stunning Madame X still turns heads at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

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The copyright of the article John Singer Sargent in 19th Century Art is owned by Meg Nola. Permission to republish John Singer Sargent in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.