#ramonsubercaseaux — Public Fediverse posts
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"Ramón Subercaseaux in a Gondola," John Singer Sargent, 1880.
Y'all know Sargent, the great society portraitist, by now.
This is from fairly early in his career, during one of his first visits to Italy, where he did a number of Venetian street scenes that were basically OK genre work. However, here he did something a bit different, possibly egged on by his subject.
Ramón Subercaseaux Vicuña (1854-1937) was a Chilean diplomat and politician, and an artist himself who befriended Sargent and commissioned him to do a portrait of his wife. Sargent is having fun here; while this is a good example of American Impressionism, it's also nicely meta. He paints Subercaseaux bent over his sketchbook while riding in a gondola down one of Venice's canals. However, a closer look lets us see his eyes peering up at us, and not at the scenery. He's sketching the artist painting him, and by extension us, the audience. Here we have the observed also being an observer, an interesting twist.
Happy Portrait Monday!
From the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN.
#Art #JohnSingerSargent #impressionism #RamonSubercaseaux #Portrait Monday