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The Millets were a prominent New England family. Laurence's father, Frank, was an artist of substantial note, and often painted with Sargent at Broadway. Sargent’s portrait of Laurence is informal, showing the boy at age three, seated with one foot pulled up on his knee. He wears a sailor suit, with his face framed with long curly locks of brown hair. Sargent captures his subject with broken brushwork, eschewing veracity in favor of an impressionistic immediacy. The painting is far looser and more relaxed, demonstrating Sargent’s break from Salon-style studio painting. That this work was a gift from the artist inscribed to Laurence’s mother, Lily, further attests to the intimacy and affection Sargent held for the Millet family. It remains one of Sargent great successes of his early years.
Exhibition HistoryExhibition of Works by the Late John S. Sargent, R.A., Royal Academy, London, January-March 1926, cat. no. 20
Portraits of Children in Painting and Sculpture, Arden Gallery, New York, 1937
The Portrait in American Art, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1959, no. 32
Dallas Collects: John Singer Sargent, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1982
John Singer Sargent: Great Expectations: Sargent Painting Children, Portland Art Museum, June - November 2005
ProvenanceMrs. Frank Millet, acquired directly from the artist
Parke-Bernet, New York, 26 January 1938, lot 53
Kleeman Galleries, New York, 1942
Dr. Chester J. Robinson
Godrey Bonsack
Peter Nicholson
Hirschl & Adler, New York, by 1980
Private collection, West Coast
Private collection, Ohio
M.S. Rau, New Orleans
Artist
John Singer Sargent
(American, 1856 - 1925)
Portrait of Laurence Millet
Date1887
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsSight: 29 5/8 × 19 1/2 in. (75.2 × 49.5 cm)
Object numberN0013.2023
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust.
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextBy far the most famous portraitist of his day, Sargent’s uncommissioned paintings of his friends and their children, such as the work here depicting Laurence Millet, are often considered to be his most charming and successful works. Just a few years before this portrait was painted, Sargent made waves at the Paris Salon of 1884 with his highly controversial Portrait of Madame X (now owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art), in which he depicted the young socialite Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau in a shocking state of dishabille. Paris was so scandalized by the risqué portrait that Sargent decided to flee to England. His destination was the artist colony of Broadway, a quiet Cotswold village frequented by various wealthy artistic Americans. There, Sargent stayed with his friend Francis “Frank” Millet and embarked on an important period of experimentation and stylistic transition. His time in Broadway provided a much-needed breath of fresh air for the artist, and his new aesthetic boldness would serve him well in the decades that followed.The Millets were a prominent New England family. Laurence's father, Frank, was an artist of substantial note, and often painted with Sargent at Broadway. Sargent’s portrait of Laurence is informal, showing the boy at age three, seated with one foot pulled up on his knee. He wears a sailor suit, with his face framed with long curly locks of brown hair. Sargent captures his subject with broken brushwork, eschewing veracity in favor of an impressionistic immediacy. The painting is far looser and more relaxed, demonstrating Sargent’s break from Salon-style studio painting. That this work was a gift from the artist inscribed to Laurence’s mother, Lily, further attests to the intimacy and affection Sargent held for the Millet family. It remains one of Sargent great successes of his early years.
Exhibition HistoryExhibition of Works by the Late John S. Sargent, R.A., Royal Academy, London, January-March 1926, cat. no. 20
Portraits of Children in Painting and Sculpture, Arden Gallery, New York, 1937
The Portrait in American Art, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1959, no. 32
Dallas Collects: John Singer Sargent, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1982
John Singer Sargent: Great Expectations: Sargent Painting Children, Portland Art Museum, June - November 2005
ProvenanceMrs. Frank Millet, acquired directly from the artist
Parke-Bernet, New York, 26 January 1938, lot 53
Kleeman Galleries, New York, 1942
Dr. Chester J. Robinson
Godrey Bonsack
Peter Nicholson
Hirschl & Adler, New York, by 1980
Private collection, West Coast
Private collection, Ohio
M.S. Rau, New Orleans
On View
On viewc. 1885-1887
