Presented by Miss Emily Sargent and Mrs Ormond through the National
Art Collections Fund 1925.
Sargent first met Monet in
1876, but the two artists were closest ten years later. It was
probably in 1885 that they painted together at Giverny, near
Paris. Sargent admired the way that Monet worked out of doors,
and imitated some of his subjects and methods in sketches such
as this. It is characteristic of Sargent to give a human view
of Monet’s practice and of the patience
of his wife, who sits behind him. When he settled in London in 1885
Sargent was initially viewed as avant-garde, but came to be the greatest
society portraitist of his day.
(From the display caption
August 2001)
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