Madame Paul Escudier (Louise Lefevre)

In this depiction of Frenchwoman Louise Escudier, John Singer Sargent undercut traditional portrait conventions by prioritizing the dramatic effects of light and dark in a Parisian apartment. The picture grew out of a series of atmospheric views of working-class women in darkened interiors that the artist produced on two trips to Venice between 1880 and 1882. Undertaken in Paris shortly thereafter, this painting transforms those techniques in the portrayal of a fashionable sitter, similarly combining the gestural brushwork of the Impressionists with a heightened chiaroscuro (light and shade) drawn from Spanish Baroque artists such as Diego Velázquez. Such works helped to establish Sargent’s reputation in Paris as a daring and original painter.