Margaret Stuyvesant Rutherfurd White (Mrs. Henry White)
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 225.1 × 143.8 cm (88 5/8 × 56 5/8 in.) framed: 249.24 × 167.96 × 12.07 cm (98 1/8 × 66 1/8 × 4 3/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of John Campbell White)
Accession Number
2014.136.68
Art Historical Context
Behold the elegant portrait *Margaret Stuyvesant Rutherfurd White (Mrs. Henry White)*, painted by the renowned John Singer Sargent in 1883. This monumental oil on canvas, measuring nearly 7.5 by 5 feet, captures the poised beauty of Margaret, an American socialite and wife of diplomat Henry White. Created during Sargent's formative years in Paris, where he honed his mastery of portraiture, the work exemplifies his signature style: fluid brushwork, luminous light effects, and a keen ability to convey aristocratic grace and personality. Sargent, often hailed as the leading portraitist of his er...
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...