Miss Beatrice Townsend – (John Singer Sargent) ◄ Previous Next ►

Artist: John Singer Sargent

Date: 1882

Size: 98 x 74 cm

Technique: Oil On Canvas

Shown from the hips up, a pale-skinned young girl wearing an ink-black garment with a cream-white collar and a coral-red sash and necklaces holds a terrier dog as she looks at us in this vertical portrait painting. The artist used brushstrokes throughout, especially in the hair, clothing, dog, and background. The girl’s body is slightly angled to our left but she turns her oval face to us. She slightly cocks one faint brow as she gazes out with large, pale blue eyes. She has smooth cheeks, and her full, red lips are closed. Her chestnut-brown hair curtains her forehead in thick bangs and falls down past her shoulders. Her black dress has long, tightly-fitting sleeves and is cinched with a wide, oversized red sash, presumably tied at the back. A multi-stranded, coral-red necklace lies over her layered, cream-white lace collar, which extends just past her shoulders. A long, white cuff falls over her left wrist, down by her side. With her other hand, to our left, she supports the terrier against her right hip. The long fur around the dog’s dark eyes is shimmering, flax brown. Caramel-brown ears poke up on its shaggy head. The girl holds the dog's tail in that hand. The background behind the pair lightens from fawn brown across the top to golden brown along the bottom edge. The artist inscribed and signed the painting in slanting, cursive letters at the top right corner: “to my friend Mrs Townsend John S. Sargent.”