John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent (January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American painter, and a leading portrait painter of his era. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. His oeuvre documents worldwide travel, from Venice to the Tyrol, Corfu, the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida.
Before Sargent’s birth, his father FitzWilliam was an eye surgeon at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. After his older sister died at the age of two, his mother Mary (née Singer) suffered a mental collapse and the couple decided to go abroad to recover. They remained nomadic expatriates for the rest of their lives. Though based in Paris, Sargent’s parents moved regularly with the seasons to the sea and the mountain resorts in France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.
While she was pregnant, they stopped in Florence, Italy because of a cholera epidemic, and there Sargent was born in 1856. A year later, his sister Mary was born. After her birth FitzWilliam reluctantly resigned his post in Philadelphia and accepted his wife’s entreaties to remain abroad. They lived modestly on a small inheritance and savings, living an isolated life with their children and generally avoiding society and other Americans except for friends in the art world. Four more children were born abroad of whom two lived past childhood.
John Singer Sargent, self portrait, 1906
Oil on canvas, 70 × 53 cm,
Galleria degli Uffizi, Italy ▼
The Family of the Duke of Marlborough
Oil on canvas,
Duke of Malborough collection,
Blenheim Palace, UK ▼
Lady Astor, 1909
Oil on canvas, Private collection ▼
Portrait of Edouard Pailleron, 1879
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay,
Paris, France ▼
Portrait of Carolus-Duran, 1879
Oil on canvas,
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute at Williamstown,
MA, USA ▼
Madame Edouard Pailleron, 1879
Oil on canvas,
The Corcoran Gallery of Art,
Washington DC, USA ▼
The Luxembourg garden at twilight, 1879
Oil on canvas,
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA ▼
Fumée d’Ambre Gris, 1880
Oil on canvas,
Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown,
MA, USA ▼
Dr. Pozzi at home, 1881
Oil on canvas,
The Armard Hammer Collection,
Los Angeles, USA ▼
The daughters of Edward D. Boit, 1882
Oil on canvas,
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA ▼
Street in Venice, 1882
Oil on wood,
The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼
El Jaleo, 1882
Oil on canvas,
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, USA ▼
Mrs. Henry White, 1883
Oil on canvas,
The Corcoran Gallery of Art,
Washington DC, USA ▼
Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau), 1884
Oil on canvas,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, USA ▼
The Misses Vickers, 1884
Oil on canvas,
Sheffields Galleries and Museums Trust, Sheffield, UK ▼
Carnation, lily, rose, 1886
Oil on canvas,
Tate Gallery, London, UK ▼
Claude Monet painting at the edge of a wood, 1887
Oil on canvas,
Tate Gallery, London, UK ▼
A gust of wind. Mrs. Violet Ormond (1870-1955), artist’s sister, 1887
Oil on canvas, Private collection ▼
St. Martin’s Summer, 1887
Oil on canvas,
Private collection ▼
A morning walk. Mrs. Violet Ormond (1870-1955), artist’s sister, 1888
Oil on canvas, Private collection ▼
Mrs. Adrian Iselin, 1888
Oil on canvas,
The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA ▼
Two girls on a lawn, 1889
Oil on canvas,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA ▼
The boating party, 1889
Oil on canvas,
Rhode Island School of Design, Museum of Art,
Providence, Rhode Island, USA ▼
Paul Helleu sketching his wife Alice, 1889
Oil on canvas,
The Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA ▼
Egyptian girl, 1891
Oil on canvas,
Art Institute of Chicago,
USA ▼
La Carmensita, 1892
Oil on canvas,
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France ▼
Mrs. Carl Meyer and her children, 1896
Oil on canvas,
Collection of Sir Anthony Meyer, Bart, UK ▼
Mrs. Joshua Montgomery Sears, 1899
Oil on canvas, 147.6 x 96.8 cm,
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA ▼
Ena and Betty, Daughters of Asther Wertheimer, 1901
Oil on canvas,
Tate Gallery, London, UK ▼
Mrs. William Crowninshield Endicott, 1901
Oil on canvas,
The National Gallery of Art,
Washington DC, USA ▼
Mrs. Joseph Chamberlain, 1902
Oil on canvas,
The National Gallery of Art,
Washington DC, USA ▼
Margaretta Drexel, Countess of Winchilsea and Nottingham, 1911
Charcoal on paper, 46,5 x 61 cm,
Private collection ▼
Girl fishing at San Vigilio, 1913
Oil on canvas, 49.5 x 71.1 cm,
Private collection ▼
General officers of World War I, 1922
Oil on canvas, 299.7 x 528.3 cm,
National Portrait Gallery, London, UK ▼
A boat in the waters off Capri, 1878
Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 cm ▼
Rosina, 1878
Oil on panel,
13.785 x 6.75 in, Private collection ▼
Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, 1893
Oil on canvas, 127.5 x 100.3 cm,
National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, UK ▼
Madame Roger-Jourdain, 1885
Watercolor on paper, 30.5 x 55.8 cm,
Private collection ▼
The oyster gatherers of Cancale, 1878
Oil on canvas, 41 x 61 cm,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA ▼
Venetian bead stringers, 1882
Oil on canvas laid on board, 56.2 x 81.9 cm
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin ▼
Ruth Sears Bacon, 1887
Oil on canvas, 48 1/3 x 36 3/4 in
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, USA ▼
Mademoiselle Suzanne Poirson, 1884
Oil on canvas, 61.6 x 48.5 cm,
Private collection ▼
Cashmere, 1908
Oil on canvas, 27 1/2 x 42 1/2 in.
Bill Gates collection ▼
Head of a Neapolitan boy ▼
Crashed aeroplane, 1918
Oil on canvas, Imperial War Museum London, England ▼
Village children, 1890
Oil on canvas, 63.5 x 76.2 cm,
Yale University Art Gallery, USA ▼
Miss Dorothy Vickers, 1884
Oil on canvas, 45.72 x 38.1 cm, Private collection ▼
Jeanne Kieffer later Mrs. Edouard de Valcourt (1872-1923), 1879
Oil on canvas, 43.2 x 35.6 cm, Private collection ▼
Neapolitan children bathing (Innocence Abroad), 1879
Oil on wood, 26.8 x 35.1 cm, Tate Gallery, London, UK ▼
