A distinction between sprezzatura and bravura, a dazzling display of virtuosity, may be observed by comparing Sargent with the fashionable Italian-French society portraitist Giovanni Boldini( 1842-1931), fourteen years his senior. The portrait of the French actress and courtesan Marthe de Florian( 1898) by Boldini( one of her string of famous lovers) displays his familiar fanciful, bold, and vigorous brushwork, which gave him the moniker the“ Master of Swish.” But whereas Sargent sought to capture the person, Boldini’ s paintings of women in particular seem less like portraits of individuals than of ladies cast into a mold of a frivolous, sexy, and sensuous type.
Sargent’ s economical virtuosity and lack of affectation are especially evidenced in his many watercolors, where he stands at the very pinnacle of the art. As the leading Sargent expert Richard Ormond put it,“ The swiftness of the brushwork gave his work the immediacy of life itself. Sargent’ s self-confidence and technical powers enabled him to seize the essence of a subject directly and succinctly. He never wasted a stroke, and he used whatever means lay at hand to achieve his effects: stopping out, sponging, wax resist, wet-on-wet, gouache highlights, scratching out. Improvisation and experiment were the keys to a style that was constantly evolving.”
Giovanni Boldini Portrait of Marthe de Florian 1888 oil on canvas Size unknown Private collection
He traveled widely on regular sketching tours, from the Swiss Alps to the Mediterranean and the Near East, often with family and friends. His self-confidence was tempered and thoughtful. One who remembers watching him work told how, once he had chosen a subject and had his tools all set out, he“ would make moan over the difficulty of the subject and say,‘ I can’ t do it,’ or‘ It’ s unpaintable,’ and finally,‘ Well, let’ s have a whack at it.’”
John Singer Sargent
Gourds 1908 watercolor on paper 14 x 20” Brooklyn Museum
Scuola di San Rocco c. 1903 14 x 20” Private collection
Villa di Marlia, Lucca: A Fountain 1910 watercolor on paper 16 x 20” Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Spanish Fountain 1812 watercolor on paper 21 x 13 x 3 / 4” Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
On the Grand Canal c. 1907 watercolor on paper Private collection
40 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE