| Born in Italy to American parents, Sargent grew up in Europe. As a young art
student in Paris, he trained with the esteemed portraitist Charles-Emile August
Durand (Carolus-Duran), who belonged to a circle of the most celebrated writers,
musicians, and painters of the city. Carolus-Duran introduced Sargent to possible
patrons who might play a role in shaping his future through portrait commissions.
Among Carolus-Duran’s many colorful friends was the noted playwright and
poet Edouard Pailleron, whose wife, Marie Buloz Pailleron (1840–1913),
was the daughter of a prominent Parisian publisher. Edouard Pailleron had commissioned
Sargent to make a portrait of him in the wake of the young artist’s success
at the 1879 Salon. During that summer he invited Sargent to paint Madame Pailleron’s
portrait at her family’s estate in Savoy, at Ronjoux. Later Sargent was
commissioned to paint their two children. Sargent’s portrait of Madame
Pailleron exemplifies the contradictions that became a hallmark of his successful
approach to portraiture. . . .
- Dorothy Moss, formerly Assistant Curator of American Art
Corcoran Gallery of Art |
Text excerpted from A Capital Collection: Masterworks from
the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
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