John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent | 1856-1925 | Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Phelps Stokes 1897 | Oil on canvas | 214 x 101cm | Bequest of Edith Minturn Phelps Stokes (Mrs. I. N.), 1938 (38.104) | Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York | Photograph courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Phelps Stokes 1897
John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) was the son of expatriate American parents from Philadephia. He was born in Italy and travelled extensively in Europe with his parents, who encouraged him to study in Paris, the world’s artistic epicentre. Settling there with his family in 1874, he studied primarily in the atelier of Emile-Auguste Carolus-Duran and the École des Beaux-Arts. Influences from the Spanish painter Velázquez, the Dutch master Frans Hals and stylistic characteristics of Impressionism contributed to Sargent’s style, which won him popularity and recognition.
Sargent’s portrait of Mr and Mrs I N Phelps Stokes was a wedding gift to the couple from a friend. Sargent’s original intention in a series of preparatory sessions was to depict Edith Phelps Stokes wearing an evening dress and standing alone. Seeing her as she arrived in his studio to pose, wearing everyday attire, Sargent decided to change his plan for the portrait. She was to be accompanied in the portrait by a Great Dane dog but, when the dog that Sargent had in mind became unavailable, Edith’s husband suggested that he take its place in the portrait.
