Sargent: The Masterworks

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925), one of the greatest portrait painters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was celebrated in his lifetime. His original mix of realism and impressionism was perhaps only rivaled by French painter Édouard Manet. An American born in Italy, Sargent studied in Florence and Paris with Carolus-Durand and was encouraged by his mother, who, an amateur artist herself, inculcated the love of travel in her son. Everywhere Sargent went, he had a studio and painted. Throughout his lifetime, he often painted en plein air landscapes when he wasn't working on portraits of the upper crust. Metropolitan Museum of Art assistant curator Herdrich (coauthor, American Drawings and Watercolors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: John Singer Sargent) provides a solid introduction to the artist's life and best-known works. Each chapter covers a period in Sargent's development and is liberally illustrated in full-color photographs and portraits.