John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent dominated portraiture in the Belle Époque and Edwardian eras, becoming the defining society painter of his generation. Born in Florence to American parents in 1856, he trained in Paris under Carolus-Duran and absorbed the technique of Velázquez—working directly on canvas with loaded brushstrokes, prioritizing tonal placement over careful underpainting. His meteoric rise brought commissions across Europe, though the 1884 Salon scandal surrounding his Portrait of Madame X drove him to London, where his career flourished regardless.