John Singer Sargent

This sumptuous book is the third volume of the definitive catalogue raisonné of the work of the American painter John Singer Sargent (1856–1925). Comprising over two hundred portraits and portrait sketches in oil and watercolor painted between 1900 and the artist’s death in 1925, this book completes the trilogy of portrait volumes.
The catalogued works have been grouped into two chronological sections, each with an introduction that sets the particular group in context. There is also a section of undated portraits and an appendix listing previously unrecorded works. Each work is documented in depth: entries include traditional data about the painting or watercolor; details of the work’s provenance, exhibition history, and bibliography; a short biography of the sitter; a discussion of the circumstances in which the work was created; and a critical discussion of its subject matter, style, and significance in Sargent’s career. Most of the works are reproduced in color. There is also an illustrated inventory of Sargent’s studio props and accessories and a cross-referenced checklist of the portraits in which they appear.

Richard Ormond, formerly director of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, is an independent art historian. He is the coauthor of books on Sargent, Landseer, Winterhalter, and Lord Leighton, and he is a great-nephew of John Singer Sargent. Elaine Kilmurray is research director of the John Singer Sargent catalogue raisonné project.