John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent | 1856–1925 | Mrs. Hugh Hammersley 1892 | Oil on canvas | 205.7 x 115.6cm | Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Douglass Campbell, in memory of Mrs. Richard E. Danielson 1998 (1998.365) | Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York | Photograph courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Mrs. Hugh Hammersley 1892
John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) was the son of expatriate American parents from Philadelphia. He was born in Italy and travelled extensively in Europe with his parents. His training as a painter was primarily in Paris, where he settled in 1874, in the atelier of Emile-Auguste Carolus-Duran and later at 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.
By the early 1880s, Sargent was completely at home in, and intimately connected to, Parisian society. He was the friend of writers, collectors and artists, including Auguste Rodin and Claude Monet, and received many portrait commissions from wealthy and notable Parisians.
In the 1884 Salon, Sargent exhibited a portrait of a celebrated American woman Virginie Avegno, who had married Parisian banker Pierre Gautreau, in 1881. The painting scandalised critics and audiences with its representation of an expatriate American as the haute Parisian woman in what was considered to be a provocative and shocking pose. The scandal brought Sargent’s popularity in Paris to an abrupt halt and the artist moved to London in 1886, where he established himself as one of Europe’s most celebrated portraitists.
In this work, Mrs Hammersley (born Mary Frances Grant), the 29-year-old banker's wife and fashionable London hostess, is lightly poised on an elegant French sofa. Her willowy form and candid expression suggest Sargent's ability to characterise and flatter her simultaneously. Her gold-trimmed silk velvet dress and the sumptuous setting announce his mastery of varied textures.
