In 1874, when Sargent was only eighteen, he went to Paris to study, entering the atelier of Carolus-Duran. A portrait of his teacher painted toward the close of his studentship won the commendation of the best judges. He received an honorable mention in the Salon in 1878, and in 1881 a second-class medal for his “Portrait of a Young Lady,” which has been made famous by the appreciation of Henry James, the distinguished American novelist. As an artist with a future he turned his steps to Spain. In Madrid he studied the canvases of Velasquez carefully, and this master has influenced his entire art career. He seemed to come so close to this great painter that he was enabled to bring into the nineteenth century the power of the most modern of fifteenth century painters. Sargent returned to Paris in 1882 and exhibited “El Jaleo,” a picture representing a Spanish woman dancing, which attracted a great deal of attention, and is now in the Boston Art Museum. Soon afterward Sargent drifted to London, and in 1886 his “Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose” brought him immediate recognition. He rapidly became known in London as a brilliant portrait painter, and year by year his Academy portraits were the features of the exhibitions. His success was now assured, and his sitters included the men and women of greatest distinction in the literary, artistic, and social life of both Europe and America. He is best known as a portrait painter; but at the same time he has done much excellent decorative work, and his decorations for the Boston Public Library, “The Pageant of Religion,” among which was the frieze of “The Prophets,” which were completed in 1903, placed him among the leading mural painters of America. Sargent was elected a member of the Royal Academy in London in 1894, and in addition to this he has won many other honors. And unlike many American artists residing in Europe, he has always retained his directness and independence. PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 2, No. 15. SERIAL No. 67 COPYRIGHT, 1914. BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC. [Illustration: Copyright 1907 by DeW C. Ward. THE BENEFICENCE OF THE LAW by Kenyon Cox. In the Essex County Courthouse, Newark, New Jersey.] American Mural Painters KENYON COX Monograph Number Six in The Mentor Reading Course Not only has Kenyon Cox placed himself in the front rank of American artists through his paintings, but he has also made a name for himself as an art critic. He was born at Warren, Ohio, on October 27, 1856. His father was General Jacob Dolson Cox. He studied art when quite young, first at Cincinnati and Philadelphia, and then at the age of twenty-one went to Paris to study. There for five years he was under Carolus-Duran and Gérôme.