2. John Singer Sargent, 1856-1925
Madame X

     Sargent's standing among art historians and critics has been steadily rising for the past fifty years. At a recent exhibition in New York ("Manet/Velázquez"), the Metropolitan Museum placed the great Spanish master's most important works in immediate juxtaposition with works by artists who had been influenced by the Spaniard. Most of the artists (most notably, Manet) suffered terribly by the comparison. Not so Sargent. His paintings appeared strong and vibrant, looking even better by comparison with Velázquez' finest offerings. Sargent's rising stock thus rose even higher. He considered Madame X, painted in Paris in 1884 (when the artist was 28), his finest work.
     If the title of this article were The Ten Portraits Most Interesting to Other Portrait Artists, all ten might well be by Sargent. His hand-eye coordination and his superhuman brush handling have never been exceeded. Given the immense volume of his professional output, the creativity and ingenuity displayed throughout the Sargent oeuvre is quite amazing—there are no two compositions alike. His insight into the personalities of his sitters stamps each Sargent portrait with distinctiveness

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1916.