“Sargent is not of the world in which he plays so conspicuous a part, but preserves an aloofness from it and studies it with the collectedness of an onlooker interested in the moving show and in its general trends of motive, but with an individual sympathy only occasionally elicited. Sargent has his grip upon the actual, and while in relation to the world and people about him he is almost a recluse, he has delighted his imagination with the seemings and shows of things and with their material significance.” _Modern Artists_ _Christian Brinton_ _Courtesy of Doubleday Page & Company_—_The Sun, 1908_ “Beyond all question Sargent is the most conspicuous of living portrait painters. Before his eyes pass in continuous procession the world of art, science, and letters, the world financial, diplomatic, or military, and the world frankly social. To-day comes a savant, a captain of industry, or a slender, troubled child. Tomorrow it will be an insinuating Semetic Plutus; next week may bring some fresh-tinted Diana, radiant with vernal bloom. Everyone from poet to general, from duchess to dark-eyed dancer, finds place in this shifting throng.... “With the entrance of Sargent into the arena of art cherished conventions disappear in sorry discomfiture. With a dignity and a technical mastery which compel both respect and enthusiasm he tramples upon tradition whenever tradition stands in his way. It is useless to scan these canvases in the hope of finding various qualities which for centuries have been deemed the touchstone of portraiture. Contemplation and reflection are by no means the rule. That adjustment of diverse elements which makes for balanced composition is often lacking. That endearing love of tone for its own sake is frequently absent. The vigorous outline of Holbein, the rich sobriety of Titian, or the permeating magic of Leonardo find but faint echo in the work of this modern innovator. With almost disdainful independence he has declined to repeat the triumphs of the great forerunners. In place of their ideals he has substituted ideals which are resolutely his own. However you may regard his contribution, it is impossible not to recognize its insistent novelty. Once in possession of the underlying facts, there should be no trouble in reading aright the salient, positive art, this art which by turns persuades and repels. Yet one cannot divine just why these high-bred women are so animated, or why the soldiers and statesmen are so emphatic, without first peering beneath the exterior. Though Sargent may himself remain dexterously on the surface, the spectator cannot. It is not enough to watch this conjurer perform his trick; we must see how it is accomplished.