John Singer Sargent was the preeminent portraitist of the Gilded Age. With his brilliant bravura brushwork, flair for rich colors, and dramatic juxtaposition of light and dark tones, he made striking images of the American and European elite. Born to American parents in Italy, Sargent spent most of his life in Europe, where he traveled extensively, studying the work of the Old Masters. He greatly admired Diego Velázquez’s realism and Frans Hals’s painterly brush strokes, both of which he would incorporate into his own work. Sargent painted this portrait of Lady Helen Vincent in Venice. A glimpse of the Grand Canal is visible through the balustrade in the lower-left corner. He elongates Lady Helen’s limbs, underscoring her gracefulness, while the black dress emphasizes her milk-white skin, a sign of her nobility. Her direct but pensive gaze suggests her intellect: she was a member of The Souls, a salon of prominent intellectuals that included Henry James and Edith Wharton.
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- Titles Lady Helen Vincent, Viscountess d'Abernon (Proper)@Portrait of Lady Helen Vincent (1866-1954) (Label Display)
- Artist John Singer Sargent, American, 1856 - 1925
- Medium oil on canvas
- Dimensions 62 1/2 x 42 1/2 in. (158.8 x 108 cm) frame: 72 7/8 × 52 1/4 × 5 in. (185.1 × 132.7 × 12.7 cm)
- Credit Line Museum purchase with funds provided by John Bohorfoush, the 1984 Museum Dinner and Ball, and the Museum Store, 1984.121
- Work Type painting
- Classification Paintings
- On View
- Signature Recto, bottom right, signed in red paint: John S. Sargent
- Inscription Recto, bottom right, in red paint, in artist's hand: Venice - 1904 Verso, top stretcher bar, center right, black stenciled paint: 226 KR Frame, verso, top rail, right, white chalk: 226 [obscure characters] DRAWING ROOM Frame, verso, top rail, center left, marker on orange-red sticker: C Frame, verso, top rail, far right, white chalk: 4 [encircled] Frame, verso, top rail, inside, center, graphite: VII Frame, verso, left rail, near top, typed sticker: [ripped] 325 Verso, vertical strainer, upper center, printed label: *AICKELIN Venezia / Via 22 Marzo / ER BELLE ARTI / Marzo 2378-2038 [bottom left corner ripped] Verso, vertical strainer, upper center, printed label: JAMES BOURLET & SO / Fine Art Packers, Frame Mak / A 7833 / 17 & 18 Nassau Street, / Mortimer Street, W. / 'Phone Museum 1871 [upper right ripped] Verso, vertical strainer, upper center, stamped in black ink: EDSS2 Verso, horizontal strainer, far left, white circular sticker: CHRISTIES [printed in black ink] / Helen [written in red ink] / 187 [written in red ink] Verso, horizontal strainer, far left, typed on sticker: 1325 Verso, horizontal stainer, far left, typed sticker with black ink: N.B. - This Label to be affixed to the back of the frame (not the canvas) of the Picture. / ROYAL ACADEMY WINTER EXHIBITION, 1926, / OF WORKS BY THE LATE JOHN S. SARGENT, R.A. / Title of Work: The Lady Helen Vincent / (Please correct if not properly given.) / Name and Address of Owner { / The Lord d'Abernon, G.C.M.G. / Esher Place, Esher, Surrey Verso, horizontal strainer, center left, blue ink on printed sticker: [Christe's Logo] / Ref. # NYCBV053 / Line # 1 Dept. AMP / Photo: [empty check box] Color [empty check box] B & W Frame, recto, black paint: The Viscountess D'Abernon 1866-1954. Grand-Daughter of Sir James Graham Bart. By Sargent 1904. Frame, verso, left rail, center, white chalk: ANGUS g[two letters under D-rings] HEAD Frame, verso, left rail, center, white chalk: E D 88 2 1 [1 is encircled] Frame, verso, right rail, center, white chalk: RIGHT OF DOOR Frame, verso, bottom rail, center right, printed label with annotations in blue ink: [Christie’s logo] /Ref # NYCBV D53 [blue ink] / Line # 1 [1 in blue ink] / Photo: [unchecked box] Color [unchecked box] B&W Frame, verso, bottom rail, inside, center, graphite: W
- Provenance Commissioned by Edgar Vincent, 1st Viscount D’Abernon (1857–1941) [see note 1]; inherited by his widow and the sitter, Helen Vincent, Viscountess D’Abernon (1866–1954); inherited by her nephew, Sir Fergus Graham, 5th Baronet (1893–1978); inherited by his son, Sir Charles Graham, 6th Baronet (1919–1997); auctioned at Important American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture of the 19th and 20th Centuries, Christie’s, New York, June 1, 1984, lot 187; purchased through Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, as agent of the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, 1984
1. Sargent painted the portrait in Venice in 1904, but at least by 1926, the painting had been transported to the Vincent family’s estate at Esher Place. A label on the horizontal strainer of 1984.121 for the Works by the Late John S. Sargent, R.A. The Royal Academy, London. Winter Exhibition, 1926. January 14, 1926 – March 13, 1926 lists Vincent as the lender with the address of Esher Place. In 1929, a news clipping mentions that the painting was moved when Vincents left Esher Place: “Though a great many paintings were sold when the D’Abernons left Esher Place, they have managed to fit a number of treasures into their little house in Arlington Street. These include the two large portraits painted of Lord and Lady D’Abernon by Sargent….” In “People and Their Doings.” Daily Mail. August 1, 1929, p. 8.