“Sargent did not wholly achieve art, for some of it was born to him, and some of it, perhaps, was thrust upon him. Training started him right, but his great success is not wholly due to that. Genius alone can account for the remarkable content of his work. “Sargent’s life has been the result of peculiar circumstances—fortunate circumstances some may think; unfortunate others may hold. At least they have been instrumental in bringing forth an accomplished painter whose art no one can fail to admire. That his work may be admired understandingly it is quite necessary to comprehend the personality of the artist—to understand his education, his associations, his artistic and social environments. For if the man himself is cosmopolitan his art is not less so. It is the perfection of world-style, the finality of method. “If I apprehend Sargent rightly, such theory of art as he possesses is founded in observation. Some fifteen years ago, in Gibraltar, at the old Cecil Hotel, I was dining with him. That night, as a very unusual thing, Sargent talked about painting—talked of his own volition. He suggested his theory of art in a single sentence: ‘You see things that way’ (pointing slightly to the left) ‘and I see them this way’ (pointing slightly to the right). He seemed to think that would account for the variation or peculiarity of eye and mind, and with a manner of doing—a personal method—there was little more to art. Such a theory would place him in measured agreement with Henry James whose definition of art has been quoted many times: ‘Art is a point of view, and a genius a way of looking at things.’