Description

An expatriate American, John S. Sargent was born in Florence, Italy, trained in Paris and lived most of his artistic career in London. He knew the Impressionists and their goals and often painted en plein air. Technically facile, Sargent was the artistic heir of Anthony van Dyck, Thomas Gainsborough and Thomas Lawrence. A painter of extraordinary talent, by 1890 he was the undisputed premier portraitist of Gilded Age society, painting both British and American sitters. For his own sanity, Sargent painted small oils and bravura watercolors of landscapes and genre scenes. Eventually, he grew sick of painting faces and will spend the last years of his life painting landscapes and genre subjects for his own enjoyment and working on murals for Boston institutions like the Boston Public Library. On his death in 1925, his sisters distributed many works on paper to American museums to ensure their brother’s legacy. 2025 is the centenary of Sargent’s death and several exhibitions mark this anniversary.