1884 (ca.), John Singer Sargent, Mrs. Harry Vane Milbank (Alice Sidonie Vandenburg) -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition)
From the museum label: Alice Milbank (1845-1916), once described as "a legendary beauty," was the mother of Sargent's close friend and fellow artist Albert de Belleroche. The striking portrait was inscribed by Sargent to Albert, a symbol of their lasting friendship. Confidently painted with expressive brushwork, the work was left unfinished. While Milbank's face is carefully portrayed, her arms are created with a few broad brushstrokes, and her skirt is only cursorily rendered. Her averted gaze, powdery white skin, and fashionable black dress with its plunging décolleté anticipate Sargent's controversial portrait Madame X, which Sargent was working on around the same time.
1884 (ca.), John Singer Sargent, Mrs. Harry Vane Milbank (Alice Sidonie Vandenburg) -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition)
From the museum label: Alice Milbank (1845-1916), once described as "a legendary beauty," was the mother of Sargent's close friend and fellow artist Albert de Belleroche. The striking portrait was inscribed by Sargent to Albert, a symbol of their lasting friendship. Confidently painted with expressive brushwork, the work was left unfinished. While Milbank's face is carefully portrayed, her arms are created with a few broad brushstrokes, and her skirt is only cursorily rendered. Her averted gaze, powdery white skin, and fashionable black dress with its plunging décolleté anticipate Sargent's controversial portrait Madame X, which Sargent was working on around the same time.