Madame Paul Escudier (Louise Lefevre)
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
129.5 × 91.4 cm (51 × 36 in.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
191183
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In this depiction of Frenchwoman Louise Escudier, John Singer Sargent undercut traditional portrait conventions by prioritizing the dramatic effects of light and dark in a Parisian apartment. The picture grew out of a series of atmospheric views of working-class women in darkened interiors that the artist produced on two trips to Venice between 1880 and 1882. Undertaken in Paris shortly thereafter, this painting transforms those techniques in the portrayal of a fashionable sitter, similarly comb...
About the Artist
John Singer Sargent · 1856–1925
John Singer Sargent, born on January 12, 1856, in Florence to American expatriate parents FitzWilliam Sargent, an eye surgeon and medical illustrator, and Mary Newbold Singer, an amateur artist, enjoyed a nomadic childhood across Europe. His mother nurtured his artistic inclinations with sketchbooks and museum visits, while he received early watercolor lessons from German landscape painter Carl We...