John Singer Sargent - Delphi Complete Works of John Singer Sargent (Illustrated)

His father once wrote, Heis quite a close observer of animated nature. However, his mother wasconvinced that travelling around Europe, visiting museums and churches, wouldgive her son a satisfactory education. Several attempts to have him formallyschooled failed, owing mostly to their roving life. An artistic temperament andskill ran through the family: Sargents mother was a fine amateur artist andhis father was a skilled medical illustrator. Early on, his mother gave himsketchbooks and encouraged drawing excursions. John worked with care on hisdrawings, enthusiastically copying images of ships from The Illustrated London News, learning to make detailed sketches oflandscapes.At the age ofthirteen, he received watercolour lessons from Carl Welsch, a German landscapepainter.

Although his education was far from complete, Sargent grew up to be ahighly literate and cosmopolitan young man, accomplished in art, music andliterature. He was also fluent in French, Italian and German. At seventeen, hewas described as wilful, curious, determined and strong (after his mother)yet shy, generous, and modest (after his father). Well-acquainted with many ofthe great masters from first-hand observation, Sargent wrote in 1874, I havelearned in Venice to admire Tintoretto immensely and to consider him perhapssecond only to Michelangelo and Titian.Afterreturning to Paris from Florence, Sargent began his art studies withCarolus-Duran, a young French portrait artist, who had enjoyed a meteoric rise,being noted for his bold technique and modern teaching methods. Carolus-Duransinfluence would be pivotal to Sargent during the period from 1874 to 1878. On hisfirst attempt, Sargent passed the rigorous exam required to gain admission tothe cole des Beaux-Arts, the premier art school in France.

He took drawingclasses, which included anatomy and perspective, gaining a silver prize. Healso spent much time in self-study, drawing in museums and painting in a studiohe shared with James Carroll Beckwith, who became a much valued friend.Carolus-Duransatelier was progressive, dispensing with the traditional academic approach of carefuldrawing and underpainting, favouring instead the alla prima method of working directly on the canvas with a loadedbrush, derived from Diego Velzquez. It was an approach that relied on the properplacement of tones of paint. This approach also adopted spontaneous flourishesof colour, not bound to an under-drawing. It was markedly different from thetraditional atelier of Jean-Lon Grme, where Americans Thomas Eakins andJulian Alden Weir had studied. In short time, Sargent became the star student.

Hisexcellent command of French and his superior talent made him both popular andadmired. Through his friendship with Paul Csar Helleu, Sargent would meet the giantsof the art world, including Degas, Rodin, Monet and Whistler.Sargents earlyenthusiasm was for landscapes, not portraiture, as shown by his voluminoussketches full of mountains, seascapes and buildings. However, Carolus-Duransexpertise in portraiture finally influenced Sargent in the direction that woulddominate his lifes work and establish his fame for posterity. It was also avery shrewd option, in terms of commercial choice. Commissions for historypaintings were still considered more prestigious, but were much harder to receive.Portrait painting, on the other hand, was the best way of earning a livelihood.Sargents first major portrait was of his friend Fanny Watts in 1877 and the paintingwas also his first Salon submission. The particularly well-executed portraitdrew critical attention.