John Singer Sargent
I love Sargent's works! This was an American artist who had an exquisite lightness in depicting not only royalty and society, but people in general. Indeed, the artist became one of the most sought–after portraitists of the late Victorian era, but he eventually became exasperated by the whim and vanities of prominent sitters. By 1909 he had abandoned conventional portraiture to experiment with more imaginary fields.
Here, we see Sargent's niece, Rose-Marie Ormond. In keeping with his newfound preference for informal figure studies, Sargent did not create a traditional portrait; rather, he depicted Rose-Marie as a languid, anonymous figure absorbed in poetic reverie. The reclining woman, casually posed in an atmosphere of elegiac calm and consummate luxury, seems the epitome of nonchalance—the painting's original title. Sargent seems to have been documenting the end of an era, for the lingering aura of fin-de-siècle gentility and elegant indulgence conveyed in Repose would soon be shattered by massive political and social upheaval in the early 20th century.
P.S. Check out the beautiful views of the Italian island of Capri painted by John Singer Sargent. :)
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