About Elizabeth Chanler
Elizabeth Chanler was born in 1866 to distinguished parents: her father was a Democratic congressman from New York, her mother was a descendant of John Jacob Astor. But when her mother died prematurely, "Bessie" was left to help care for seven younger brothers and sisters. The portrait here suggests the contest of discipline and emotion that she must often have experienced.
Sargent painted her portrait in his London studio when Elizabeth Chanler was there for her brother's wedding. She was 26, an age when most women were tending children of their own. Sargent included a couple of paintings from his collection in the picture. These have been identified as a Madonna and child on the right, and a copy of an old woman from a Frans Hals painting on the left. Did the artist intentionally fix Elizabeth halfway between motherhood and old age?
Pictured: John Singer Sargent, Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler, 1893; oil, 49 3/8 x 40 1/2 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chanler A. Chapman.
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Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler
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