Portrait of Gabriel Fauré by John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent's portrait of Gabriel Fauré was painted in 1889 when the French composer was forty-four years old and still building the reputation that would eventually make him one of the most celebrated figures in French music. Sargent and Fauré moved in overlapping circles of Parisian and London artistic society — both were regulars at the salon of Princesse de Polignac — and the portrait was an act of mutual artistic recognition as much as a commission. Fauré's gentle, refined features were a challenge for a portraitist accustomed to more dramatically imposing subjects, and Sargent responded with unusual sensitivity.

Sargent subordinates his usual bravura display to the quiet refinement of the subject: Fauré's face is modelled with careful attention to its intellectual distinction, the technique controlled rather than showy. The pose is informal, suggesting the portrait of a colleague rather than an official commission. Light falls gently from one side.