John Singer Sargent
American, 1856-1925
The greatest American portrait painter of the late nineteenth century, John Singer Sargent was internationally renowned for his bold, bravura technique. "To die before being painted by Sargent is to go to heaven prematurely," a contemporary remarked. In addition to flattering society portraits, which brilliantly capture the self-assurance and elegance of wealthy and powerful individuals, Sargent painted more than 600 landscapes and genre scenes.

He was born in Florence of American expatriate parents. He learned to draw when still a child, and in 1874 he entered the studio of a Parisian society portraitist who taught the young painter to delineate forms rapidly with bold strokes of the brush. Sargent began showing at the Salon in 1877, but he left Paris in 1884 after one of his portraits caused a scandal. The work, titled Madame Pierre Gautreau (also known as Madame X, 1884, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), was considered bold and risqué.

In the United States, Sargent executed many portraits and two major mural commissions in Boston for the public library (1890-1916) and the Museum of Fine Arts (1916-1925). Although the artist considered himself an American, he lived most of his life in Europe. He even refused a British knighthood because it would have jeopardized his American citizenship.