Child' Eye View of John Singer Sargent

We have a family plan at the local art museum where my granddaughters live rather than where we live so that we can go to the museum with them. It has been a pandemic, so this plan has not been fully operationalized, but on our very first visit they stood in front of this portrait by John Singer Sargent of Alice Gerson Chase and one of them took in a deep breath and turned excitedly to me and said, "She looks like a princess." And there you have it, through the eyes of a four year old, the deeply satisfying allure of looking at portraits of strangers by one of my favorite portrait painters of the late 19th century. Sargent was renowned for his portraits of the wealthy and famous. Although he worked within the established style of classical portraiture he used unusual compositions, interesting color palettes, and rarely repeated the same arrangement twice. Sargents' lack of use of under painting and under drawing allowed for more spontaneous, less controlled brush strokes which gave the effect of capturing the sitter in a candid moment. At the same time, he was able to manipulate props to convey the social status of his subjects, particularly in his use of texture to detail fine fabrics. I saw a painting of his when I was just a bit older than my granddaughter is now and it struck me much the same way she saw it, which was very satisfying to behold.