1985.40
Portrait of Elizabeth Nelson Fairchild
Artist
John Singer Sargent
(Florence, Itay, 1/12/1856 - 4/14/1925, London, United Kingdom)
Title
Portrait of Elizabeth Nelson Fairchild
Creation Date
1887
Century
late 19th century
Dimensions
19 9/16 in. x 18 1/4 in. (49.69 cm x 46.36 cm)
Object Type
painting
Creation Place
North America, United States, Massachusetts
Medium and Support
oil on canvas
Credit Line
Museum Purchase, George Otis Hamlin Fund and Friends of the College Fund
Copyright
Public Domain
Accession Number
1985.40
One of the most prodigious talents of his generation, expatriate John Singer Sargent received his artistic training in Paris in the private studio of Carolus-Duran. Carolus-Duran’s teaching method differed from that of academicians associated with the École des Beaux-Arts insofar as he encouraged painting directly from the model, without preliminary studies. This approach suited Sargent perfectly, and he soon won fame, fortune, and some notoriety for portraits of international high society. This bust-length image, painted in Boston during Sargent’s first working tour of America, manifests his distinctive synthesis of delicacy and boldness. The subject is Elizabeth Nelson Fairchild, a Boston poet who wrote under the pseudonym C.A. Price. Although Sargent, like William Merritt Chase, was sometimes accused of shallowness, he consistently imbued his sitters with “high-bred refinement and interesting personalities.”
