John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)

John Singer Sargent is known for his portraits of eminent or socially prominent people of the period. He was born in Florence, Italy, of American parents. He studied art in Italy, France, and Germany, receiving his formal art education at the École des Beaux-Arts and in the Paris studio of the noted French portraitist Carolus-Duran.

He spent most of his adult life in England, maintaining a studio there for more than thirty years and visiting America only on short trips. In about 1907 Sargent tired of portrait painting and accepted few commissions. He then worked chiefly on European scenes in watercolour, in an Impressionistic style.

John Singer Sargent by Alvin Langdon Coburn, 1907, photogravure © reserved; collection National Portrait Gallery, London