John Singer Sargent

1856 — 1925

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) was an American painter, born in Florence to American parents, who lived most of his life in Europe. He studied in Florence and then in Paris under Carolus-Duran from 1874 to 1878. His portrait Madame X caused a scandal at the 1884 Paris Salon, after which he moved to London in 1886. There he became one of the most sought-after portraitists of his day, and Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1887) marked his first major success at the Royal Academy. Other well-known works include El Jaleo (1882), The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit (1882) and Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (1892). Sargent closed his portrait studio in 1907 and gave more time to watercolours and murals, among them a long project for the Boston Public Library. In the First World War he went to the front as a British war artist and painted Gassed. He died in London in April 1925.