Mrs. Henry White

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mrs. Henry White (John Singer Sargent)
Mrs. Henry White
John Singer Sargent , 1883
Oil on canvas
220.98 × 139.70 cm
Corcoran Gallery of Art , Washington

Mrs. Henry White is a portrait by John Singer Sargent, completed in 1883. It was the first commission from the painter, who was 27 at the time, that was not given to him from among his friends. The couple became aware of him through the exhibition at the Salon de Paris in 1882. Margaret Stuyvesant Rutherford White was particularlyimpressedby his portrait of a Lady with Rose , which Charlotte Luise Burckhardt showed. She therefore chose Sargent as her portraitist , even though he was still at the beginning of his career. Her husband chose the established painter Léon Bonnat for his portrait.

Sargent began the portrait of Mrs. Henry White immediately after completing The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit , one of his early masterpieces which was influenced by Diego Velázquez 's Las Meninas .

background

Margaret Stuyvesant Rutherford was the eldest daughter of Lewis Morris Rutherfurd , an American astrophysicist and a pioneer in astrophotography . The Rutherfords were very wealthy and, given their family's role in US history, were extremely confident. Margaret Stuyvesant Rutherford was, among other things, a great-granddaughter of US Senator John Rutherfurd , one of the electors who elected George Washington as the first President of the United States.

Margaret Stuyvesant Rutherford married Henry White in 1879 , a descendant of a no less wealthy and influential family. Supported by his ambitious wife, he pursued a diplomatic career after marriage. In 1883 Henry White became secretary at the US embassy in Vienna , but in the same year he moved to the embassy in London , where he stayed after the change of government to the Democrats . In 1888, five years after Sargent completed the portrait and Margaret Stuyvesant Rutherford White was at the height of her social success, Henry James described her as follows:

“..Very good-looking, young, rich, glamorous and to an extent admired and successful by everyone that she leaves any of her competitors far behind ... She has never read a book in her life, but is nevertheless a being of the highest class. "

- Henry James in a letter dated 1888

execution

Mrs. White's choice of Sargent as her portraitist was a coincidence, but for Sargent it came with the prospect of numerous other commissions. Because of the Whites' numerous relationships in France and Britain with wealthy corporate figures, Mrs. White's ability to attract attention, and her social fluency, it was an advertisement that far outshone Sargent's successes in the Salon de Paris.

Work on the portrait began in February 1883, but Mrs. White fell ill after only a few sessions and left Paris to rest in Cannes for a long time. In the meantime, John Singer Sargent moved his studio to a better area of ​​Paris. He had rented a small house on Boulevard Berthier that had a large studio and a small garden. Mrs. White's portrait was the first painting that Sargent completed in this new studio.

Sargent chose to portray Mrs. White in a way that was reminiscent of portraits of noble people from centuries past. She wears an ivory-white dress richly decorated with ruffles and flounces, the train of which is still visible in the background and makes the portrait appear as if she has just turned towards the viewer. Her jewelry is limited to a pearl necklace and some gold. She is carrying a slightly opened fan in one hand and an opera glass in the other. Their formal, proud posture emphasizes their social standing. The original version showed her with her head slightly tilted. Years later Margaret White asked Sargent to change this head position, so that this impression is reinforced. The painting is now in this version in the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington.

Effects

Madame X , which was created at the same time

At the Salons de Paris in 1878, 1880 and 1882, Sargent had shown genre paintings as well as portraits. In 1878 these were his oystercatchers ( En route pur la pêche ), in 1880 the Arab woman dressed in white over incense ( Fumée d'Ambre Gris ) and in 1882 the painting El Jaleo . In 1884 he renounced it. His portrait of Mrs. Henry White and the parallel portrait of Madame *** (later Madame X ), which showed the social climber Virginie Gautreau in an erotically distant pose, gave him hope of achieving a breakthrough on the French art market. That ultimately turned out to be a miscalculation. His portrait of Madame *** was received very controversially in the Paris Salon of 1884. Sargent, then 28, who had never experienced such a failure, withdrew from Paris and settled in London. Despite being commissioned by Margarete White, he was still an unknown figure in London. Sargent submitted the portrait for an exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1884, but the reviews were muted. The Times wrote in a review of the picture:

“... it is difficult to say that this much-discussed painting is a perfect one, or that Mr. Sargent has lived up to his promising talent this year. He has exhibited better things in Paris than those he has so far deigned to show in London. But he would have the skills to do even better jobs than this, should he ever be able to shed his paralyzing intoxication from Parisian praise. "

- The Times, May 12, 1884

The British magazine Athenaeum was no longer enthusiastic:

"Mr. JS Sargent is the victim of a reputation that was earned too quickly. He does not do justice to his abilities if he lacks any taste in his paintings apart from the tonality. His Mrs. H. White ... tries hard, the painting looks almost metallic, expression, effect and pose are without any noticeable taste, but the painting shows sufficient skills that a redesign is worthwhile. "

- Athenaeum, June 21, 1884

E. Vickers, an industrialist, hired him to paint his daughters. The Misses Vickers is the first in a series of similar portraits that quickly made him famous in Britain.

See also

literature

  • Stanley Olson: John Singer Sargent - His Portrait . MacMillan, London 1986, ISBN 0-333-29167-0 .

Single receipts

  1. ^ Stanley Olson: John Singer Sargent - His Portrait . MacMillan, London 1986, ISBN 0-333-29167-0 , p. 99.
  2. ^ Stanley Olson: John Singer Sargent - His Portrait . MacMillan, London 1986, ISBN 0-333-29167-0 , p. 99. The original quote is ... very handsome, young, rich, splendid, admired and successful, to a degree which leaves all competitors behind ... She has never read a book in her life; but she is 'high up' all the same.
  3. ^ Stanley Olson: John Singer Sargent - His Portrait . MacMillan, London 1986, ISBN 0-333-29167-0 , pp. 99 and 100.
  4. ^ Stanley Olson: John Singer Sargent - His Portrait . MacMillan, London 1986, ISBN 0-333-29167-0 , p. 100.
  5. ^ Stanley Olson: John Singer Sargent - His Portrait. MacMillan, London 1986, ISBN 0-333-29167-0 , p. 109.
  6. ↑ quoted from Stanley Olson: John Singer Sargent - His Portrait. MacMillan, London 1986, ISBN 0-333-29167-0 , p. 109. In the original the quote is: ... is hard to admit that this much-discussed picture is a completely satisfactory one, or that Mr. Sargent has this year done justice to his unquestioned talent. He has exhibited better things in Paris than he has ever yet condescended to show in London; but he has it in him to do finer work even than those, supposing him to escape the intoxication of Parisian praise.
  7. ↑ quoted from Stanley Olson: John Singer Sargent - His Portrait. MacMillan, London 1986, ISBN 0-333-29167-0 , p. 109. The original quote is: Mr. JS Sargent has been the victim of a reputation too easily acquired. He does his powers injstice by neglecting taste in every element her his pictures except that tonality in which he excels. His Mrs. H. White ... is hard, the painting almost metallic, the carnations are raw, there is no taste in the expression, air, or modeling, but the work is able enough to deserve recasting.
  8. ^ Stanley Olson: John Singer Sargent - His Portrait. MacMillan, London 1986, ISBN 0-333-29167-0 , pp. 112-116.