{"data":{"id":4749,"api_model":"artworks","api_link":"https:\/\/api.artic.edu\/api\/v1\/artworks\/4749","is_boosted":false,"title":"Mrs. George Swinton (Elizabeth Ebsworth)","alt_titles":null,"thumbnail":{"lqip":"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAwAFAPMAAFZRQ2FbRm5nU3twW4JsW4h8a4l+apN1YY+JeZSKcpCGep6XgqSXgaaekbWsmwAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAADAAUAAAQLMI0giiGKneYAWhEAOw==","width":3330,"height":6269,"alt_text":"A work made of oil on canvas."},"main_reference_number":"1922.4450","has_not_been_viewed_much":false,"boost_rank":null,"date_start":1897,"date_end":1897,"date_display":"1897","date_qualifier_title":"","date_qualifier_id":null,"artist_display":"John Singer Sargent (American, 1856\u20131925)","place_of_origin":"London","description":"<p>John Singer Sargent\u2019s portrayal of musician Elizabeth \u201cElsie\u201d Swinton epitomizes the painterly virtuosity that made the artist one of the most fashionable portraitists in late 19th-century Europe and America. Extravagant color and brushwork were central to Sargent\u2019s success, as was his ability to present a refined and appealing likeness. Here, he accentuated the sitter\u2019s regal bearing and elaborate dress. At the time, Swinton was a celebrated amateur singer, and the following decade she began performing professionally. Sargent harmonized the realism of her face and body with bursts of impressionistic brushstrokes describing the shimmering, translucent fabric descending from her shoulder.<\/p>\n","short_description":"John Singer Sargent was one of the most fashionable portraitists in late 19th-century Europe and America. Extravagant color and brushwork were central to Sargent\u2019s success, as was his ability to present a refined image of his sitter. Here, Sargent accentuated Mrs. George Swinton's regal bearing and feminine dress, harmonizing the realism of her face with bursts of impressionistic brushstrokes describing her gown's shimmering fabric.","dimensions":"231 \u00d7 124 cm (90 3\/4 \u00d7 48 3\/4 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":124,"height":231,"diameter":null,"clarification":null}],"medium_display":"Oil on canvas","inscriptions":"Signed, lower left: \"John S. Sargent\"","credit_line":"Wirt D. Walker Collection","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"\u201cThe New Gallery,\u201d The Times (London), Saturday, Apr. 24, 1897: 10.\n\n\u201cArt Notices,\u201d The Illustrated London News 110, 3028 (May 1, 1897): 587.\n\n\u201cThe New Gallery Summer Exhibition,\u201d The Academy 51 (May 1, 1897): 479.\n\n\u201cThe New Gallery,\u201d The Saturday Review 83, 2168 (May 15, 1897): 537\u2013538.\n\n\u201cThe New Gallery,\u201d The Atheneum no. 3630 (May 22, 1897): 686\u2013687.\n\nHenri Frantz, \u201cLes salons Anglais: Royal Academy et New Gallery,\u201d Gazette des Beaux Arts 19 (1897): 253\u2013260.\n\nJohn LaFarge, \u201cSargent, the Artists,\u201d The Independent 51, 2630 (Thursday, Apr. 27, 1899): 1140\u20131142.\n\nMarion Hepworth Dixon, \u201cMr. John S. Sergeant as a Portrait\u2013Painter,\u201d The Magazine of Art (1899): 112\u2013119.\n\nA. L. Baldry, \u201cThe Art of J. S. Sergeant, R.A., Part I,\u201d The Studio 19, 83 (Feb. 1900): 3\u201321.\n\n\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013. \u201cThe Art of J. S. Sergeant, R.A., Part II,\u201d The Studio 19, 83, (Feb. 1900): 3\u201321.\n\nCharles H. Caffin, \u201cJohn S. Sargent: The Greatest Contemporary Portrait Painter,\u201d The World\u2019s Work, 7, 1 (Nov. 1903): 4099\u20134118.\n\nArts and Decoration 17 (June 1922): 118.\n\n\u201cPrizes and Honors in Exhibitions,\u201d The Art Institute of Chicago Forty\u2013Fourth Annual Report for the Year 1922 (1922): 40.\n\n\u201cAccessions and Loans,\u201d Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 16 (Dec. 1922): 99.\n\nAmerican Magazine of Art 14 (Jan. 1923): 6.\n\nRose V.S. Berry, \u201cJohn Singer Sargent: Some of His American Work,\u201d Art and Archaeology 19 (Sept. 1924): 83\u2013112.\n\nWilliam Starkweather, \u201cThe Art of John S. Sargent,\u201d The Mentor, 12 (1924): 29.\n\nWilliam Howe Downes, John S. Sargent: His Life and Work (Little, Brown, and Co., 1925).\n\nH. B. Wehle, \u201cThe Sargent Exhibition,\u201d Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 22 (Jan. 1926): 4.\n\nThe Hon. Evan Charteris, John Sargent (Charles Scribner\u2019s Sons, 1927).\n\nSir Osbert Sitwell, Left Hand, Right Hand! (Little, Brown and Company, 1944).\n\nFrederick Sweet, Sargent, Whistler, and Mary Cassatt (Art Institute of Chicago, 1954).\n\nCharles Merrill Mount, John Singer Sargent: A Biography (W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1955).\n\nJohn L. Sweeney (ed.), The Painter\u2019s Eye: Notes and Essays on the Pictorial Arts by Henry James (Harvard University Press, 1956).\n\nCharles Merrill Mount, \u201cCarolus\u2013Duran and the Development of Sargent.\u201d The Art Quarterly 26 (1963): 385\u2013418.\n\nRichard Ormond, John Singer Sargent: Paintings, Drawings, Watercolors (Harper & Row, 1970).\n\nDavid A. Hanks, \u201cAmerican Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Part II, The Nineteenth Century,\u201d The Magazine Antiques (Nov. 1973): 895\u2013905.\n\nMaureen Green, \u201cA New and Admiring Look at the Elegance of John Singer Sargent,\u201d Smithsonian 10 (Oct. 1979): 101\u2013109.\n\nJames Lomax and Richard Ormond, John Singer Sargent and the Edwardian Age (London and Bradford: Lund Humphries, 1979).\n\nCarter Ratcliff, John Singer Sargent, New York; Abbeville Press, 1982.\n\nEric Shanes, Impressionist London, New York: Abbeville Press, 1994.\n\nDavid Lubin, Act of Portrayal: Eakins, Sargent, James (Yale University Press, 1985).\n\nPatricia Hills, John Singer Sargent (New York; Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1986).\n\nGary Reynolds, \u201cSargent and the Grand Manner Portrait,\u201d Antiques 130 (November 1986): 980\u2013993.\n\n\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013. \u201cJohn Singer Sargent\u2019s Portraits: Building a Cosmopolitan Career.\u201d Arts Magazine 62 (Nov. 1987): 42\u201346.\n\nKate F. Jennings, John Singer Sargent, (Crescent Books, 1991).\n\nSarah Burns, \u201cThe \u2018Earnest, Untiring Worker\u2019 and the Magician of the Brush: Gender Politics in the Criticism of Cecilia Beaux and John Singer Sargent,\u201d Oxford Art Journal 14, 1 (1992): 36\u201353.\n\nSuzanne Raitt, \u201cThe Singers of Sargent: Mabel Batten, Elsie Swinton, Ethyl Smyth,\u201d Women: A Cultural Review 3, 1 (Spring 1992): 23\u201329.\n\nTrevor Fairbrother, John Singer Sargent: His Life and Work (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994).\n\nH. Barbara Weinberg, John Singer Sargent (Rizzoli, 1994).\n\nJudith A. Barter, et al., American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I (Art Institute of Chicago, 1998).\n\nJudith A. Barter, et al., <em>The Age of American Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago<\/em> (Art Institute of Chicago, 2011), cat. 79.\n\nRichard Ormond et al., Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends (National Portrait Gallery, 2015) 124, 127, fig. 18 (ill.).\n\nAnnelise K. Madsen, et al., <em>John Singer Sargent and Chicago's Gilded Age<\/em>, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2018), 18, 20\u201322, 29, 73\u201374, 76, 83, 166, 169, 204, 210, 211, cat. 26, fig. 2 (ill.).\n\nJudith H. Dobrzynski, \"Dazzling Art With a City Connection,\" The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 13, 2018, A13 (ill.).","exhibition_history":"London, England, The New Gallery, Summer Exhibition, Aprl 24\u2013?, 1897, cat. 245, as Mrs. George Swinton.\n\nEdinburgh, Scotland, Royal Scottish Academy, The Ninety\u2013First Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, May 5\u2013Sept. 1, 1917, cat. 142, as Mrs. George Swinton (incorrectly cited as lent by Captain George Swinton instead of Mrs. Henry Edward Ebsworth).\n\nPittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Twentieth Annual International Exhibition of Paintings, Apr. 28\u2013June 30, 1921, cat. 304, as Portrait of Mrs. George Swinton (incorrectly cited as lent by Captain George Swinton instead of Mrs. Henry Edward Ebsworth).\n\nCincinnati Art Museum, OH, The Twenty\u2013Ninth Annual Exhibition of American Art, May 27\u2013July 31, 1922, cat. 38, as Portrait of Mrs. Swinton.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, The Thirty\u2013Fifth Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture, Nov. 2\u2013Dec. 10, 1922, cat. 202, as Mrs. Swinton.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Paintings by John Singer Sargent, Apr. 14\u2013July 1, 1924.\n\nBoston, Museum of Fine Arts, Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the Late John Singer Sargent, Nov. 3\u2013Dec. 27, 1925.\n\nMetropolitan Museum of Art, Memorial Exhibition of the Work of John Singer Sargent, Jan. 4\u2013Feb. 14, 1926, cat. 29.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/exhibitions\/4071\/two-centuries-of-american-art-1750-1950\"><em>Two Centuries of American Art, 1750-1950<\/em><\/a>, Oct. 1, 1959\u2013Jan. 10, 1960, no cat. [downloadable checklist available].\n\nLeeds, England, Leeds Art Galleries, Lotherton Hall, John Singer Sargent and the Edwardian Age, Apr. 5\u2013June 10, 1979; London, National Portrait Gallery, July 6\u2013Sept. 9, 1979; Detroit Institute of Arts, Oct. 17\u2013Dec. 9, 1979.\n\nNew York, Whitney Museum of American Art, John Singer Sargent, Oct. 7, 1986\u2013Jan. 4, 1987; Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 7\u2013Apr. 19, 1987, cat. 118.\n\nEdinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, The Portrait of a Lady: Sargent and Lady Agnew, Aug. 8\u2013Oct. 19, 1997.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/exhibitions\/2522\/john-singer-sargent-and-chicago-s-gilded-age\"><em>John Singer Sargent and Chicago\u2019s Gilded Age<\/em><\/a>, July 1\u2013Sept. 30, 2018, cat. 26.","provenance_text":"Commissioned by Mrs. Henry Edward Ebsworth (the sitter's mother), 1897 (1) Llandough Castle, Cowbridge, Glamorgan, South Wales: (2) Gattonside House, Melrose, Roxburghshire, Scotland; (3) London, England; consigned by her to M. Knoedler & Co., London, England, and New York, 1915; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1922.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":21,"fiscal_year":1923,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":true,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":21.3819,"color":{"h":40,"l":41,"s":15,"percentage":0.113167409281073,"population":1514},"latitude":null,"longitude":null,"latlon":null,"is_on_view":true,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":"Gallery 273","gallery_id":21434,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Arts of the Americas","department_id":"PC-3","artist_id":36540,"artist_title":"John Singer Sargent","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[36540],"artist_titles":["John Singer Sargent"],"category_ids":["PC-3"],"category_titles":["Arts of the Americas"],"term_titles":["painting","oil paint (paint)","Impressionism","fashion","organic material","american arts","women","portraits","Realism","Chicago","Modernism","people"],"style_id":"TM-7543","style_title":"Impressionism","alt_style_ids":["TM-7548","TM-5981"],"style_ids":["TM-7543","TM-7548","TM-5981"],"style_titles":["Impressionism","Realism","Modernism"],"classification_id":"TM-9","classification_title":"painting","alt_classification_ids":["TM-2191"],"classification_ids":["TM-9","TM-2191"],"classification_titles":["painting","american arts"],"subject_id":"TM-8663","alt_subject_ids":["TM-8735","TM-8658","TM-12075","TM-8810"],"subject_ids":["TM-8663","TM-8735","TM-8658","TM-12075","TM-8810"],"subject_titles":["fashion","women","portraits","Chicago","people"],"material_id":"TM-2451","alt_material_ids":["TM-2601"],"material_ids":["TM-2451","TM-2601"],"material_titles":["oil paint (paint)","organic material"],"technique_id":null,"alt_technique_ids":[],"technique_ids":[],"technique_titles":[],"theme_titles":[],"image_id":"074c1b1b-fe92-01ce-9e62-cc99369142dd","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":[],"sound_ids":[],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[101],"suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1922.4450"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Mrs. George Swinton (Elizabeth Ebsworth)"],"weight":19625,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-09-01T14:17:31-05:00","updated_at":"2026-09-02T15:20:50-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-06T05:49:46-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu.","license_links":["https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/","https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/terms"],"version":"1.15"},"config":{"iiif_url":"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/iiif\/2","website_url":"http:\/\/www.artic.edu"}}