DOI issue:
No. 83 (February, 1900)
DOI article:Baldry, Alfred Lys: The art of J. S. Sargent, R. A., [1]
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19784#0031
John S. Sargent, R.A'.
as one who would receive a revelation for which he that of even such a consummate craftsman as
had prepared himself by a long course of illuminat- M. Carolus-Duran himself.
ing exercises. He chose the moment well, while That Mr. Sargent should have come back from
the discipline of the studio was still a directing Spain different in many respects from what he was
memory, and yet while he was enjoying the first before, was, under such circumstances, almost
flush of a freedom in which the fascinations of the inevitable. Yet he became, even then, no more a
future were opening up before him. Thoughtful mere copyist of Velasquez than he had been an
observation, minute and exact analysis, had been imitator of the French master. Something of the
impressed upon him day by day, and year by year, grace, something of the refinement, of the divinity
as he painted in Paris with his master at his elbow, of the Prado was added to his own artistic achieve-
and now it was for him to apply these habits of ment, but not to such an extent as to swamp and
mind to the dissection of an art greater by far than obscure his proper personality. He bartered
away some of the Gallic vivacity he
had acquired for a share of the splendid
dignity of the Spanish Don, but he
kept as the chief part in the alloy the
Anglo-Saxon directness and indepen-
dence that came to him with his Ameri-
can blood. He chose wisely just what
he considered necessary to fill up and
round off any deficiencies in his point
of view without allowing anything to
grow beyond its proper proportions, or
to upset the just balance of conviction
that seemed to him to be the one
object at which he ought to aim. In
this, as in other things, he showed that
excellent discretion which has contri-
buted so much to the success which has
attended all the stages of his career.
Early in the eighties, when the
Spanish visit had come to an end,
he established himself in a studio on
the Boulevard Berthier in Paris, and
set assiduously to work to prove that
the promise of his earlier years was
going to be amply fulfilled. Already
he was recognised as a man of note
among the artists living in the French
capital. His portrait of M. Carolus-
Duran had been followed by some
other paintings of the same type,
among which the Portrait of a Young
Lady, exhibited in 1881, was most
conspicuous, and by two or three
pictures, such as En route pour la
Pkhe, and Smoke of Ambergris; and
in 1882 appeared the amazing tech-
nical triumph El Jaleo, that was the
sensation of the season in which it
was exhibited. Immediately afterwards
he painted the Portraits of Children
—four young children grouped in a
portrait sketch by john s. sargent, r.a. large dimly-lighted hall — which is
18
as one who would receive a revelation for which he that of even such a consummate craftsman as
had prepared himself by a long course of illuminat- M. Carolus-Duran himself.
ing exercises. He chose the moment well, while That Mr. Sargent should have come back from
the discipline of the studio was still a directing Spain different in many respects from what he was
memory, and yet while he was enjoying the first before, was, under such circumstances, almost
flush of a freedom in which the fascinations of the inevitable. Yet he became, even then, no more a
future were opening up before him. Thoughtful mere copyist of Velasquez than he had been an
observation, minute and exact analysis, had been imitator of the French master. Something of the
impressed upon him day by day, and year by year, grace, something of the refinement, of the divinity
as he painted in Paris with his master at his elbow, of the Prado was added to his own artistic achieve-
and now it was for him to apply these habits of ment, but not to such an extent as to swamp and
mind to the dissection of an art greater by far than obscure his proper personality. He bartered
away some of the Gallic vivacity he
had acquired for a share of the splendid
dignity of the Spanish Don, but he
kept as the chief part in the alloy the
Anglo-Saxon directness and indepen-
dence that came to him with his Ameri-
can blood. He chose wisely just what
he considered necessary to fill up and
round off any deficiencies in his point
of view without allowing anything to
grow beyond its proper proportions, or
to upset the just balance of conviction
that seemed to him to be the one
object at which he ought to aim. In
this, as in other things, he showed that
excellent discretion which has contri-
buted so much to the success which has
attended all the stages of his career.
Early in the eighties, when the
Spanish visit had come to an end,
he established himself in a studio on
the Boulevard Berthier in Paris, and
set assiduously to work to prove that
the promise of his earlier years was
going to be amply fulfilled. Already
he was recognised as a man of note
among the artists living in the French
capital. His portrait of M. Carolus-
Duran had been followed by some
other paintings of the same type,
among which the Portrait of a Young
Lady, exhibited in 1881, was most
conspicuous, and by two or three
pictures, such as En route pour la
Pkhe, and Smoke of Ambergris; and
in 1882 appeared the amazing tech-
nical triumph El Jaleo, that was the
sensation of the season in which it
was exhibited. Immediately afterwards
he painted the Portraits of Children
—four young children grouped in a
portrait sketch by john s. sargent, r.a. large dimly-lighted hall — which is
18