Hemy recalled: 'He made no attempt at drawing, he threw a mass of colour for the forehead, then worked round it and said things in many languages under his breath and seemed thoroughly dissatisfied with everything. On the third day I told him to throw his cigarette away and settle to. He did so for half an hour, working hard, fuming all the time. Then I heard him whistling softly to himself, and watched him swaying his head from side to side while he scrutinised his work. He lit another cigarette, painted the clothes in, put the highlights in the hair, threw in a finishing touch or two, and the thing was done!'

Portrait of Charles Napier Hemy 1905
John Singer Sargent

Painted over 3 days at Hemy’s Falmouth home in 1905.

For a description of Sargent’s unusual painting technique see ALT text.

Part of Falmouth Art Gallery’s extensive collection of Automaton.

#Art #SingerSargent

Wooden models of Sargent, Hemy & the dog with the portrait on an easel. All the figures move when a handle is turned.

“After 3 Long Days - the Final Touch”
Automaton
Keith Newstead

The mainly wooden automaton shows the painters - John Singer Sargent, Charles Napier Hemy & Hemy's terrier, Bobbie.

In Falmouth Art Gallery.

#Art #Automata #SingerSargent
#Woodensday
#WoodcarvingWednesday

🧵 1/2 (see 👇 for painting)

John Singer Sargent, "Corner of the Church of San Stae, Venice," oil on canvas, 1913; photo: Christie's. #singersargent #paintings #peintures #art #arte #oilpainting #modernart #scenic #venice #museum #artgallery

John Singer Sargent, "The Fountain, Villa Torlonia, Frascati, Italy," oil on canvas, 1907; Art Institute of Chicago. #art #modernart #singersargent #painting #oiloncanvas #museum #artgallery #enpleinair

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)
"The Balcony, Spain and Two Nude Bathers Standing on a Wharf", 1879-1780,
Oil on wood
#photography #oilpainting #art #drawing #illustration #JohnSingerSargent #SingerSargent

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)
"Madame Errázuriz" (Eugenia Huici Arguedas), ca. 1883-1884,
Oil on canvas
#art #painting #oilpainting #drawing #illustration #portrait #JohnSingerSargent #SingerSargent

Lady Eden sits at a table playing cards. She is seen in profile wearing an off the shoulder dress & wrap.

Sybil Frances Grey, Lady Eden, 1906
#SingerSargent

“Belle Époque” exhibition.
Palazzo Blu, #Pisa #Italy

On loan from Philadelphia Museum of Art.

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)
"Smoke of Ambergris", 1880,
Oil on canvas
#painting #oilpainting #art #drawing #illustration #JohnSingerSargent #SingerSargent

Exhibition caption - Mrs (later Lady) Edith Chester Beatty, 1915 Edith Chester Beatty née Dunn; born 1886, New York; died 1952, Kensington, London Two years before this drawing was made, Edith Dunn married Alfred Chester Beatty. It was a second marriage for both of them; she was a New York divorcee of 27, he was a widower of 38. Edith became a stepmother to his two children and moved into his home in Kensington Palace Gardens. He was the wealthy one - known as the Copper King, from his mining fortune and investments - not her. But in the First World War, it was Edith who turned their home into an American Red Cross hospital for officers, a model of the 'perfect efficiency which forms part of the American character' said a newspaper report. She developed into an avid (and, compared to her husband, overlooked) collector - buying Manet, Renoir, Cézanne, and notably Van Gogh's Sunflowers (now in Sompo, Japan), French furniture, sculpture and Sevres, Chinese embroideries and many important Egyptian papyri. Edith also raced and bred horses, bred and exhibited pigs, wintered in Egypt, and spent thousands on jewellery - but also thousands on thoughtfully chosen books and manuscripts for her husband. Sargent's portrait of 1915 concentrates on Edith's gaze, as she looks into the far distance past the viewer, and her deeply waved hair, which appears to be an early example of the 'Castle bob. Carefully rendered pearls contrast with fast and vigorous white squiggles, indicating the embroidery and piping on her dress. Sargent finds a softness in Edith's character which contrasts with a cooler, less approachable de László portrait of 1916.

Edith Chester Beatty, 1915
#SingerSargent

“Heiress”. Sargent’s American Portraits. #KenwoodHouse #London

By contrast to Sargent’s portraits in oil is a study of Edith Chester Beatty in charcoal.

Such a study needed only one sitting (instead of six for oils) & so was more spontaneous. See ALT text

Nancy Astor, 1908 Nancy Witcher Astor née Langhorne; born 1879, Danville, Virginia; died 1964, Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire Nancy grew up in an old Virginian family who had lost their fortune in the American Civil War, the eighth of eleven children. Her father owed his wealth to the railroad business, and her childhood was not uncomfortable, though they 'had the same supper every night: cornbread and eggs, raw tomatoes, beaten biscuits and molasses. rarely meat. She married Robert Gould Shaw at the age of 17; they divorced in 1903. On a transatlantic liner she met Waldorf Astor, and married him in 1906. His father, the naturalized Briton William Waldorf Astor, gave the couple Cliveden, his palatial house and estate overlooking the Thames, as well as a Cartier tiara for Nancy which incorporated the famous Sancy 55-carat diamond. Her wit, vivacity and intelligence considerably outshone her inheritance, and drove her trailblazing political career. Sargent painted Nancy in the early years of her marriage, at the age of 29. Her twisting, lively pose derives from a Romney portrait of Emma Hamilton as a Bacchante, a follower of Dionysus the god of wine - Ironically as Nancy was a teetotaller. When the work was exhibited In 1909 at the Royal Academy, Sargent wrote to her You look beautiful in Room No. 1, beautiful but interesting. Many people tumbled to your captious and penetrating charm. Sargent was frequently Invited to Cliveden, but grew tired of its social whirl and stopped visiting.

#NancyAstor 1908
#SingerSargent

“Heiress”. Sargent’s American Portraits exhibition at #KenwoodHouse #London

Interesting to see Sargent’s image of a youthful Nancy (known for her wit, vivacity & intelligence), painted a decade before she became the first female MP to sit in Parliament. See ALT text

Painting of four girls in a sumptuous room. Three are looking at the viewer, one is leaning on an impressively large blue vase

A painting of a brother and sister in luxurious clothing with an orange background. The sister is looking directly at us and she is not having it.

Loved the Singer Sargent show today, especially visiting with the four sisters who I’ve seen nearly every decade of my life.
Also, damn, that girl sat for 83 times and we feel it.
#museedorsay #singersargent #portraits

This triptych features three elegant portraits of the same woman in formal evening gowns, each rendered with a focus on grace, poise, and luxurious fabric. The left image shows her in a black satin dress with jeweled straps, standing beside a table with one hand resting on its edge, her body turned in profile against a muted brown backdrop. The central portrait presents her in a soft, blush-toned gown with sheer, flowing fabric gathered at the waist, her profile sharply defined against a dark background, emphasizing her pale skin and red hair. In the rightmost painting, she is depicted from behind in a gleaming champagne-colored gown, turning slightly as she holds a smoking incense stick or cigar, the smoke drifting into the dark air. Across the three images, the woman is consistently shown in profile, exuding an air of aristocratic elegance and quiet defiance.

John Singer Sargent, Portrait of Madame X (1884) + Gustave Courtois, Madame Gautreau (1891) + Antonio de La Gándara, Madame Pierre Gautreau (1898)

3 portraits of Mme Gautreau made (in)famous by Sargent

#SideBySide #Art #ArtHistory #Portrait #SingerSargent #MmeGautreau

John Singer Sargent - L'Eiger depuis Mürren
#arte #singersargent #art

This image juxtaposes two full-length portraits of elegantly dressed women, each embodying the aesthetic ideals of their respective eras. On the left is a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds depicting a woman in a classical pose and a flowing coral-pink gown with grey accents, set against a dramatic landscape and architectural backdrop, evoking the grandeur and theatricality of 18th-century portraiture. On the right is a John Singer Sargent portrait, showcasing a woman in a shimmering white gown with voluminous, translucent ribbons, standing confidently with a subtle, enigmatic smile; the soft yet dynamic brushwork and the diffused background exemplify late 19th-century sophistication.

Joshua Reynolds, Jane, Countess of Harrington (1778) + John Singer Sargent, Daisy Leiter (1898)

2 ‘swagger’ portraits—display and social aspirations. Sargent's American heiress performs as a British aristocrat (which she became)

#SideBySide #Art #ArtHistory #Portrait #SingerSargent #JoshuaReyolds

This side-by-side image compares two interior group portraits that play with spatial depth, mirrors, and the gaze. On the left is The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit by John Singer Sargent, showing four young girls in a dimly lit room flanked by two large vases, with some girls retreating into shadowy corners and others nearer to the viewer, creating a mysterious, almost psychological atmosphere. On the right is Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas, a masterwork of Spanish Baroque art, depicting the young Infanta Margarita surrounded by her entourage in a royal studio, with Velázquez himself painting at a large canvas, and a mirror at the back reflecting the king and queen—blurring the boundary between viewer and subject.

John Singer Sargent, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit (1882) + Velazquez, Las Meninas (1656)

Critics—including Henry James—wrote of Sargent's debt to Velázquez. The two paintings were exhibited side-by-side at the Prado in 2010

#SideBySide #Art #ArtHistory #SingerSargent #Velazquez “LasMeninas

John Singer Sargent - La sieste
#arte #singersargent #art

In need of a little inspiration, we headed to The Met: in 100° weather, in July during tourist season, on a Friday.
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And I call myself a New Yorker. Oops.
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#themet #artist #painter #capecod #singersargent

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)
"On His Holidays, Norway", 1901,
Oil on canvas
#painting #art #oilpainting #drawing #illustration #fishing #JohnSingerSargent #SingerSargent #Sargent

#Artshare
#SingerSargent
#Study
#MadameX

Madame X. She is standing, looking away from us, and wearing a long black dress.

Today, 14 April 2025, is the 100th anniversary of the death of John Singer Sargent. Here is his portrait of Madame X, painted in 1884 #blueskyart #art #painting #impressionism #otd #singersargent #favouritepaintings #favouriteartists

John Singer Sargent - Portrait de Charlotte Cram (1900)
#singersargent #art

John Singer Sargent - Femmes bédouines portant des jarres d’eau (1891)
#singersargent #arte #art

Sketch practice:

Singer reference (left),

my adaptation (right)

#singersargent #johnsingersargent