Princess Demidoff

Artist John Singer Sargent (American, 1856-1925)

Dateabout 1895-1896

DimensionsPainting: 65 3/4 × 38 1/4 in. (167 × 97.2 cm)
Frame: 76 1/4 × 48 3/4 × 4 in. (193.7 × 123.8 × 10.2 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineGift of Florence Scott Libbey

Object number

1925.109

Not on View

Label TextA famous beauty and fashion leader, Sophie Ilarinovna (1871-1953) married Russian diplomat Prince Demidoff in 1893. John Singer Sargent painted her portrait in London a few years later, where her husband worked for the Russian Embassy. Sargent highlights her stylishness by posing her before a fashionable Chinese lacquer screen (a prop from Sargent’s studio) and dramatically contrasting her white silk dress with her flame-colored short cape. Born in Florence to American parents, Sargent established himself in London as the leading society portraitist of his day. His elegant and glamorous paintings of the rich and famous of late-19th-century England and America are characterized by free handling of paint (broad, loose brushstrokes are visible throughout this portrait) and sensitivity to the individuality of each of his subjects.Published ReferencesMcKibben, D., Sargent's Boston, Boston, 1956, p. 92.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, American Paintings, Toledo, 1979, p. 97, pl. 95.

Town & Country, Jan. 15, 1926, p. 32, repr.

The Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, no. 50, Oct. 1927, p. 630, repr. on cover.

The Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, no. 48, March 1926, pp. 607, 608.

Ormond, Richard and Elaine Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: Complete Paintings, New Haven, 1998-, vol. 1, p. 228.

Taylor, Bradley L., "The Effect of Surrogation on Viewer Response to Expressional Qualities in Works of Art," unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 2001, p. 78, pl. P3, p. 188.

Ormond, Richard and Elaine Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: Complete Paintings, vol. 1 Portraits of the 1890s, New Haven, Yale, 2002, no. 328, pp. 5, 79, 80, 115, 185, repr. (col.).

Danko-McGhee, Katherina, "The Museum-University Connection: Partners in Early Childhood Art Experiences," Art Education, vol. 57, no. 6, Nov. 2004, repr. p. 38.

Exhibition HistoryLondon, Royal Academy, 1896, no. 402 (as Portrait of a Lady).

New York, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, American Paintings from the Toledo Museum of Art, 1986.