John Singer Sargent (1856 – 1925), the most celebrated portraitist of his era, remarkably captured the personality and individuality of subjects such as the famous “Madame X.” The original painting, depicting one strap of Madame X’s dress provocatively slipping off her shoulder, ignited such scandal that Sargent repainted it to appear more securely fastened. Digressing from the prevalent movements of Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism to forge his own style of Realism, Sargent’s virtuosity also encompassed landscapes, watercolors, murals and sculptures.

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