Heiress: Sargent's American Portraits – a 'Revelatory' Glimpse Into the Belle Époque

Heiress: Sargent's American Portraits – a 'revelatory' glimpse into the Belle Époque

John Singer Sargent was the pre-eminent society portraitist of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, said Andrew Pulver on Air Mail. Indeed, "sitting for – and paying for – a portrait by Sargent was a mark of social clout in itself". And the American expatriate painter (1856-1925) was well placed to become the chief artistic chronicler of a "phenomenon" that thrilled fin de siècle London: dozens of "wealthy American heiresses" arriving in Brita…

Heiress: Sargent’s American Portraits – a ‘revelatory’ glimpse into the Belle Époque

John Singer Sargent was the pre-eminent society portraitist of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, said Andrew Pulver on Air Mail. Indeed, “sitting for – and paying for – a portrait by Sargent was a mark of social clout in itself”. And the American expatriate painter (1856-1925) was well placed to become the chief artistic chronicler of a “phenomenon” that thrilled fin de siècle London: dozens of “wealthy American heiresses” arriving in Brita…