Sargent John Singer Sargent was the son of American doctor from Boston. He first studied art in Paris with Carolus Duran, and in 1886 went to London where he soon became fashionable portrait painter. The influence of Velazquez and Frans Hals can be clearly seen in his portraits, but there are signs of Impressionism as well. He also experimented with painting out of doors. In some of his paintings Sargent used strikingly vivid colours and fragmentation, with broad brushstrokes.

Based on Phaidon encyclopedia of Impressionism, Maurice Serullaz, Phaidon, 1978