![]() His international reputation reached its peak in the 1890s and early 1900s. He enjoyed an upscale clientele of aristocrats, wealthy businesspeople, artists, and performers from Europe and America. The painting dazzled critics and audiences, and Sargent was once again in demand. However, this changed in 1887 when he exhibited the painting Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1885-1886), an image of two children lighting Chinese lanterns at dusk. ![]() ![]() The scandal of Madame X followed Sargent to England: London patrons were wary of Sargent’s “French style” and he struggled to secure commissions. Discouraged and humiliated by the scandal, Sargent left Paris and moved to London. Sargent defended his work and refused to take it down even in the face of mounting pressure from Gautreau’s mother, who blamed the portrait for ruining her daughter’s reputation. While the painting received some praise, it was mostly ridiculed and dismissed as a distasteful display of vanity. Sargent’s career suffered a setback at the 1884 Paris Salon where he exhibited Madame X (1883-1884), the portrait of the young socialite Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau. He received positive critiques for portraits like Portrait of Frances Sherborne Ridley Watts (1877) and subject paintings like El Jaleo (1882). In the late 1870s and early 1880s, Sargent was building his reputation in Paris. In Sargent’s case, the use of the Impressionist technique is noticeable in landscape paintings like Washerwomen (ca. Sargent also experimented with Impressionist techniques at the influence of Claude Monet, whom he met at the second Impressionist exhibition in 1876. During his travels, he painted many genre scenes, such as Rosina, Capri (1878) and Venetian Bead Stringers (1880-1882). After leaving the studio in 1878, Sargent concentrated on building his craft, traveling through Europe and methodically studying works of old masters in Holland, Spain, and Venice. ![]() He showed his artistic inclinations at a young age, and in 1874 he began his formal training at the Paris studio of Carolus-Duran. Born in Italy to American parents, Sargent spent his childhood traveling through Europe. A prolific artist, he produced around 900 oil paintings, over 2,000 watercolors and even more sketches and preliminary studies. John Singer Sargent was one of the leading portraits painters of his generation, creating images of Edwardian Era high society. ![]()
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