John Singer Sargent's broad, slashing brushstrokes and…
1890 CE
He is surprisingly unrepetitive in his portraiture, responding to each sitter differently, and his masterful manipulation of props and painterly effects suggests the class and sometimes the occupation of his subjects.
His best portraits capture his sitters in a revealing, off-guard moment.
The fashionable clients who flock to his Chelsea studio pay, on average, one thousand guineas, or five thousand dollars, for a full-length portrait.
He begins work in 1890 on a commission for the Boston Public Library to execute murals on the history of the Jewish and Christian religions.