John Singer Sargent Painting Reproductions 9 of 12
1856-1925
American Impressionist Painter
John Singer Sargent (January 12, 1856 - April 14, 1925) was the most successful portrait painter of his era, as well as a gifted landscape painter and watercolorist. He was an American expatriate who lived most of his life in Europe. Sargent was born in Florence, Italy to American parents. He studied in Italy and Germany, and then in Paris under Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran.
Biography and work
Sargent's portraits subtly capture the individuality and personality of the sitters; his most ardent admirers think he is matched in this only by Diego Velazquez, who was one of Sargent's great influences. The Spanish master's spell is apparent in Sargent's The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, 1882, a haunting interior which echoes Velazquez' Las Meninas. Sargent's Portrait of Madame X, done in 1884, is now considered one of his best works, and was the artist's personal favorite. However, at the time it was unveiled in Paris at the 1884 Salon, it aroused such a negative reaction that it prompted Sargent to move to London. Many years before the Mme. X. scandal of 1884, he painted exotic beauties such as Rosina Ferrara of Capri, and the Spanish expatriate model, Carmela Bertagna.
Although Sargent lived in the United States for less than one year, some of his best work is in the U.S., including his decorations for the Boston Public Library. He also completed portraits of two U.S. presidents: Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
Sargent is usually not thought of as an Impressionist painter, but he sometimes used impressionistic techniques to great effect, and his Claude Monet Painting at the Edge of a Wood is rendered in his own version of the impressionist style.
Sargent painted a series of three portraits of Robert Louis Stevenson. The second, Portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson and his Wife (1885), was one of his best known.
During the greater part of Sargent's career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolours, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. About 1910 Sargent forsook portrait painting and focused on landscapes in his later years; he also sculpted later in life. As a concession to the insatiable demand of wealthy patrons for portraits, however, he continued to dash off rapid charcoal portrait sketches for them, which he called "Mugs". Forty-six of these, spanning the years 1890-1916, were exhibited at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 1916.
In a time when the art world focused, in turn, on Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism, Sargent practiced his own form of Realism, which brilliantly referenced Velazquez, Van Dyck, and Gainsborough. His seemingly effortless facility for paraphrasing the masters in a contemporary fashion led to a stream of commissioned portraits of remarkable virtuosity. Thus, he was dismissed as an anachronism at the time of his death, but appreciation of his art has since grown steadily, especially following a retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1986.
John Singer Sargent is interred in Brookwood Cemetery near Woking, Surrey.
Relationships
Sargent developed a close friendship with fellow painter Paul Cesar Helleu. They met in Paris in 1878 when Singer was 22 and Helleu was 18. Sargent painted both Helleu and his wife Alice on several occasions.
Sargent was extremely private regarding his personal life, although the painter Jacques-Emile Blanche, who was one of his early sitters, said after his death that Sargent's sex life "was notorious in Paris, and in Venice, positively scandalous. He was a frenzied bugger." The truth of this may never be established. However most scholars now presume he was homosexual; not only because of his personal associations (such as with Prince Edmond de Polignac and Count Robert de Montesquiou), but because of the way his sensibility shaped his art. This includes not only the sensuality of his male nudes (most particularly his portrait of Thomas E. McKeller), but also the exotic 'otherness' implicit in his general work. It is been suggested that it was this quality which appealed to the sympathies of his many Jewish clients which he painted in the 1890s.
Biography and work
Sargent's portraits subtly capture the individuality and personality of the sitters; his most ardent admirers think he is matched in this only by Diego Velazquez, who was one of Sargent's great influences. The Spanish master's spell is apparent in Sargent's The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, 1882, a haunting interior which echoes Velazquez' Las Meninas. Sargent's Portrait of Madame X, done in 1884, is now considered one of his best works, and was the artist's personal favorite. However, at the time it was unveiled in Paris at the 1884 Salon, it aroused such a negative reaction that it prompted Sargent to move to London. Many years before the Mme. X. scandal of 1884, he painted exotic beauties such as Rosina Ferrara of Capri, and the Spanish expatriate model, Carmela Bertagna.
Although Sargent lived in the United States for less than one year, some of his best work is in the U.S., including his decorations for the Boston Public Library. He also completed portraits of two U.S. presidents: Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
Sargent is usually not thought of as an Impressionist painter, but he sometimes used impressionistic techniques to great effect, and his Claude Monet Painting at the Edge of a Wood is rendered in his own version of the impressionist style.
Sargent painted a series of three portraits of Robert Louis Stevenson. The second, Portrait of Robert Louis Stevenson and his Wife (1885), was one of his best known.
During the greater part of Sargent's career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolours, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. About 1910 Sargent forsook portrait painting and focused on landscapes in his later years; he also sculpted later in life. As a concession to the insatiable demand of wealthy patrons for portraits, however, he continued to dash off rapid charcoal portrait sketches for them, which he called "Mugs". Forty-six of these, spanning the years 1890-1916, were exhibited at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 1916.
In a time when the art world focused, in turn, on Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism, Sargent practiced his own form of Realism, which brilliantly referenced Velazquez, Van Dyck, and Gainsborough. His seemingly effortless facility for paraphrasing the masters in a contemporary fashion led to a stream of commissioned portraits of remarkable virtuosity. Thus, he was dismissed as an anachronism at the time of his death, but appreciation of his art has since grown steadily, especially following a retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1986.
John Singer Sargent is interred in Brookwood Cemetery near Woking, Surrey.
Relationships
Sargent developed a close friendship with fellow painter Paul Cesar Helleu. They met in Paris in 1878 when Singer was 22 and Helleu was 18. Sargent painted both Helleu and his wife Alice on several occasions.
Sargent was extremely private regarding his personal life, although the painter Jacques-Emile Blanche, who was one of his early sitters, said after his death that Sargent's sex life "was notorious in Paris, and in Venice, positively scandalous. He was a frenzied bugger." The truth of this may never be established. However most scholars now presume he was homosexual; not only because of his personal associations (such as with Prince Edmond de Polignac and Count Robert de Montesquiou), but because of the way his sensibility shaped his art. This includes not only the sensuality of his male nudes (most particularly his portrait of Thomas E. McKeller), but also the exotic 'otherness' implicit in his general work. It is been suggested that it was this quality which appealed to the sympathies of his many Jewish clients which he painted in the 1890s.
272 Sargent Paintings
Rigging c.1905/06
Paper Art Print
$48.26
$48.26
SKU: SAR-15318
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 28.7 x 46 cm
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, USA
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 28.7 x 46 cm
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, USA
The Bathers n.d.
Paper Art Print
$48.26
$48.26
SKU: SAR-15319
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: unknown
Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, USA
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: unknown
Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, USA
Santa Maria della Salute 1904
Paper Art Print
$48.26
$48.26
SKU: SAR-15320
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 46.2 x 58.3 cm
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, USA
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 46.2 x 58.3 cm
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, USA
Portrait of the Marchioness of Cholmondeley n.d.
Oil Painting
$877
$877
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: SAR-15321
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 161 x 93 cm
Private Collection
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 161 x 93 cm
Private Collection
Venice in Grey Weather n.d.
Oil Painting
$604
$604
Canvas Print
$56.02
$56.02
SKU: SAR-15322
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 50.8 x 68.6 cm
Private Collection
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 50.8 x 68.6 cm
Private Collection
Mrs William Marshall Cazalet and Two of Her Children 1900
Oil Painting
$1135
$1135
Canvas Print
$52.67
$52.67
SKU: SAR-15323
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 254 x 165 cm
Private Collection
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 254 x 165 cm
Private Collection
A Falucho n.d.
Paper Art Print
$48.26
$48.26
SKU: SAR-15324
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 35.6 x 50.6 cm
Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio, USA
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 35.6 x 50.6 cm
Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio, USA
Unloading Plaster c.1905
Paper Art Print
$48.26
$48.26
SKU: SAR-15325
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 35.3 x 49.2 cm
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, USA
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 35.3 x 49.2 cm
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, USA
Portrait of Mrs Alice Brisbane Thursby 1898
Oil Painting
$976
$976
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: SAR-15326
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection
The Green Parasol c.1910
Paper Art Print
$48.26
$48.26
SKU: SAR-15327
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection
Women at Work c.1910
Oil Painting
$725
$725
Canvas Print
$59.63
$59.63
SKU: SAR-15328
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 56 x 71 cm
Private Collection
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 56 x 71 cm
Private Collection
Lady Evelyn Cavendish n.d.
Oil Painting
$923
$923
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: SAR-15329
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 148 x 96.8 cm
Public Collection
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 148 x 96.8 cm
Public Collection
The Acheson Sisters 1902
Oil Painting
$1369
$1369
Canvas Print
$56.16
$56.16
SKU: SAR-15330
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 273.6 x 200.6 cm
Public Collection
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 273.6 x 200.6 cm
Public Collection
Daisy Leiter (Margaret Hyde, 19th Countess of Suffolk) 1898
Oil Painting
$926
$926
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: SAR-15331
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: unknown
Kenwood House (The Iveagh Bequest), London, United Kingdom
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: unknown
Kenwood House (The Iveagh Bequest), London, United Kingdom
Oranges at Corfu c.1909
Oil Painting
$507
$507
Canvas Print
$60.33
$60.33
SKU: SAR-15332
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 56 x 71 cm
Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, USA
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 56 x 71 cm
Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, USA
Mrs. Knowles and Her Children 1902
Oil Painting
$1071
$1071
Canvas Print
$62.28
$62.28
SKU: SAR-15333
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 182.8 x 151 cm
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, USA
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 182.8 x 151 cm
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, USA
Mrs Edward Goetz n.d.
Oil Painting
$908
$908
Canvas Print
$54.48
$54.48
SKU: SAR-15334
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 146 x 105.4 cm
Private Collection
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 146 x 105.4 cm
Private Collection
Ruined Cathedral, Arras 1918
Oil Painting
$817
$817
Canvas Print
$59.63
$59.63
SKU: SAR-15335
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection
Portrait of Lady Sassoon 1907
Oil Painting
$997
$997
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: SAR-15336
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 163 x 108 cm
Private Collection
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 163 x 108 cm
Private Collection
Gathering Flowers at Twilight n.d.
Oil Painting
$725
$725
Canvas Print
$62.15
$62.15
SKU: SAR-15337
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection
Dolce far Niente c.1907
Oil Painting
$703
$703
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: SAR-15338
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 41.3 x 71.7 cm
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, USA
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 41.3 x 71.7 cm
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, USA
Rehearsal of the Pasdeloup Orchestra at the ... c.1879/80
Oil Painting
$589
$589
Canvas Print
$62.84
$62.84
SKU: SAR-15339
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 57 x 46 cm
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts, USA
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 57 x 46 cm
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts, USA
Lady Warwick and her Son 1905
Oil Painting
$1184
$1184
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: SAR-15340
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: unknown
Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, USA
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: unknown
Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, USA
Portrait of Mrs. Charles Beatty Alexander (nee ... 1902
Oil Painting
$945
$945
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: SAR-15341
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 147 x 96.5 cm
Private Collection
John Singer Sargent
Original Size: 147 x 96.5 cm
Private Collection