Ena and Betty, Daughters of Asher and Mrs Wertheimer

Ena and Betty Wertheimer were two of Asher Wertheimer's daughters, and this 1901 double portrait is one of the most spectacular canvases Sargent produced for the Wertheimer commission. The two young women are depicted in an informal but glamorous arrangement that shows Sargent's gift for capturing social confidence and beauty without lapsing into flattery. The portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy to great acclaim and established Sargent as the defining portrait painter of Edwardian Britain. It is now at the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.

The two figures are arranged with natural informality that disguises considerable compositional calculation. Sargent's brushwork is at its most brilliant — the dresses rendered in sweeping, liquid strokes; the faces with his most precise and penetrating observation. The tonal contrast between the dark and light gowns gives the composition visual drama.