John Singer Sargent regularly exhibits portraits at…

John Singer Sargent regularly exhibits portraits at the Salon in the early 1880s: these are mostly full-length portrayals of women, such as Madame Edouard Pailleron (1880) (done en plein-air) and Madame Ramón Subercaseaux (1881).

He continues to receive positive critical notice.

Sargent had traveled in 1879 to Madrid to study the works of Diego Velázquez and to Haarlem, The Netherlands, to see the works of Frans Hals. (Some critics believe that Sargent produced his best work, executed in a rich, dark palette, in the years immediately after this trip, including a series of paintings depicting the daily labors of the Venetian working class.)