John Singer Sargent, his landscapes, and his controversial portrait of Madame X

The leading portrait painter of his generation, John Singer Sargent is remembered on 14^th April on his death anniversary. He died in 1925 and left behind a legacy of around 900 oil paintings, more than 2000 watercolours, numerous sketches and charcoal drawings. Although he was popular among art lovers as a portraitist, he was also a brilliant painter of landscapes. Born on 12^th January 1856 to expatriate American parents, he never had his formal education but received his art instruction in 1874 at Ecole des Beaux-Arts, in France.

Sargent started exhibiting his portraits at Salon in 1877. The portraits mostly include full-length portraits of women, such as Madame Edouard Pailleron (1880) and Madame Ramon Subercaseaux (1881). In his artistic career he was influenced by the paintings of Diego Velazquez and Frans Hal and started copying the paintings in Spain in 1879 and in Belgium in 1880 respectively.

Portrait of Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreaux), his most controversial work is now considered as one of his best works; it showed the right strap of the subject’s gown slipping from her shoulder and was subject to much ridicule upon being exhibited in Paris. Though amid pressure he later drew the strap back at its place, the controversial portrait precipitated his departure to London in the following year. The painting, however, remained his personal favourite.

He had also painted beauties such as Rosina Ferrara of Capri and Carmela Bertagna from Spain. Sargent’s paintings were also exhibited at Royal Academy of Arts in London.

After his death, memorial exhibitions of his work were held in Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Royal Academy and Tate Gallery in the following year. Later, his previously unseen sketches and drawings were exhibited at The Grand Central Art Galleries in 1928.