Study for "Elsie Palmer" (1873-1955)

Sargent's 'Study for Elsie Palmer' (1889) is a preparatory work for his portrait of Elsie Palmer — daughter of General William Jackson Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs. The Palmers were major American patrons, and Sargent spent time at their English home, Glen Eyrie (in the UK context, their home at Ightham Mote). Elsie Palmer was a young woman when Sargent painted her, and his study allowed him to investigate her appearance and the compositional possibilities before committing to the final canvas. The study preserves the freshness of first encounter that formal portraiture sometimes loses.

The study format allows Sargent maximum freedom of approach — the preliminary investigation of the sitter's appearance conducted with the spontaneous directness of alla prima painting rather than the considered development of a formal portrait. His handling in studies has a freshness and immediacy that sometimes surpasses the finished works, the quick observation capturing qualities that sustained working might elaborate away.