John Singer Sargent
Helen Venetia Vincent, Viscountess D'Abernon was a British noblewoman, socialite, and diarist. John Singer Sargent, the preeminent portraitist of the Gilded Age, met her in Venice in 1903, a year before her portrait was painted. A glimpse of the Grand Canal is visible through the balustrade in the lower-left corner of today's painting. Lady Helen was widely known in her circles as one of the beauties of the age, a woman of a rare charm and distinction who was then a British socialite and wife of financier and diplomat Sir Edgar Vincent. All these were underlined by Sargent. He elongated 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 also a member of The Souls, a salon of intellectual politicians, writers, scientists, and artists, which included Arthur Balfour, George Curzon, Henry James, and Edith Wharton.
P.S. If you are under a spell of Sargent's paintings, you will definitely enjoy the story of his most famous and mysterious masterpiece: Madame X!
P.P.S. Check out our Art Journals, where you can write down your thoughts about masterpieces you like. Perfect for Sargent's art!