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Boston aswell as his travels in the Italian andEnglish countryside. Born inFlorence in 1856 to an expatriateAmerican couple, JohnSinger Sargent spent his formative years touringEuropean cities and resorts. Ondeciding to study painting inParis, he enrolled at theÉcoledes BeauxArts in 1874while simultaneously developing his brilliant gifts as apainter under the teachingof Carolus-Duran, a fashionable Frenchportraitist. Sargent was at ease in theworldof Paris studios and formed friendshipswith awide range of French artists and fellow expatriates. One of his closest friendswas Paul Helleu, the elegant painter and etcher of the beau monde . He sought out ClaudeMonet, whowould remain a lifelong friendof bothmen, andAuguste Rodin, a titanof the French art world. Sargent was exceptionallywidely read, especially in the French classics, but also in contemporary literature. An early patron, the Frenchplaywright Édouard Pailleron, commissionedportraits of himself, hiswife and his children, for whichSargent was compared toVanDyck. The artist was a giftedpianist and a passionatemusicologist. Hismodernist credentials weredemonstratedby his admiration for themusic of RichardWagner, and alsoby his enthusiastic response toSpanishmusic anddance, which inspired flamenco pictures andportraits. Sargent’smasterpiece, Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, was paintedwhen hewas between life inParis and London (1885-6). The artist’s decision tomove residence from one to the other came at a time of crisis, when his career was in jeopardy after his provocativeportrait of MadameX (MadamePierreGautreau) caused a scandal at theParisSalonof 1884. He found solace in theAnglo-American colony of artists andwriters in theCotswold village of Broadway, which included the American artists FrankMillet andEdwinAustinAbbey, theEnglish illustrator FredBarnard, and thewriters Henry James andEdmundGosse. Here hepaintedhis famous gardenpicture, a constructed scene using the Barnarddaughters asmodels, andportraits of other members of the community, includingLilyMillet and AliceBarnard. InBournemouth, at this sameperiod, he captured the wiry frame and nervous energy of thewriter Robert LouisStevenson in two intense characterisations. Sargent was experimentingwith an Impressionist palette, painting vivid sketches of fellow-artists at work out-of-doors, includingClaudeMonet andPaul Helleu, and landscapes as avant-garde as any beingproduced inEngland at the time. Edwin Austin Abbey, el ilustrador inglés Fred Barnard y los escritores Henry James y Edmund Gosse. Era tan virtuoso del piano como de la pintura, además de gran experto en música y admiraba profundamente a Richard Wagner, así como la música y danza española, que inspiró algunos de sus retratos y temas flamencos. Tras largos años durante los que su obra suscitó bastante controversia y gran parte de la crítica no hizo sino ensañarse contra él, la popularidad de Sargent no comenzó a crecer hasta 1950 y actualmente está experimentando una importante revalorización. Supo elaborar una personalísima interpretación del realismo, con reminiscenciasdealgunosde losgrandesmaestrosa losque había estudiado a fondo durante sus viajes, como Velázquez o Van Dyck. Precisamente su gran virtuosismo y facilidad para «contemporanizar» el estilode losmaestros es loque le hizo acreedor a ser comparado con el ilustre flamenco. JohnSinger Sargent RetratodeMadameX Portrait ofMadameX, 1884 TheMetropolitanMuseum of Art (NuevaYork) El artista en su estudio junto a la obra RetratodeMadameX The artist in his studiowithhis painting Portrait ofMadameX . 61