Judith Gautier

John Singer Sargent's Judith Gautier (1885) depicts the French writer who was a significant figure in the Symbolist literary world — the daughter of Théophile Gautier, herself a novelist, poet, and collector of Japanese art. Gautier was among the most culturally sophisticated women of her era, her Japanese collection and her friendships with Wagner and Flaubert making her a figure of genuine intellectual distinction. Sargent's portrait was made in Paris, where he was rebuilding his reputation after the Madame X scandal, and Gautier was an appropriate subject for this cultural rehabilitation.

Sargent renders Judith Gautier with his characteristic combination of social observation and technical bravura. The writer's personality — intellectually formidable, culturally sophisticated, physically memorable — would be captured through his direct, confident approach to the portrait commission. His palette is warm and controlled, the face receiving his most careful attention while dress and setting are handled with characteristic looseness. The handling shows his mature assurance applied to a sitter who was herself a significant artistic intelligence.