Portrait of Edouard and Marie-Louise Pailleron 1881
by John Singer Sargent
Title
Portrait of Edouard and Marie-Louise Pailleron 1881
Artist
John Singer Sargent
Medium
Painting - Art Print
Description
Sargent's first formal double portrait, The Pailleron Children, is a fascinating and complex work. The children, Édouard and Marie-Louise Pailleron, are dressed in traditional black and white, but the exotic references in the Persian carpet and Marie-Louise's torque bracelet and brooch suggest a more worldly sensibility. Marie-Louise, who later became a literary figure in her own right, recounted (perhaps with exaggeration) eighty-three sittings for the portrait, as well as battles about costume and the arrangement of her hair. Sargent captures the young girl's disquieting intensity in an image that departs from conventional Victorian representations of children. Her brother, seated at an angle on the far side of the settee, seems a secondary presence.
The portrait is full of symbolism. The Persian carpet, for example, is a reference to the East, which was seen as a place of mystery and exoticism in the Victorian era. The torque bracelet and brooch are also symbols of the East, and they suggest that Marie-Louise is not a typical Victorian child. Her intense gaze and determined expression also set her apart from other children of her time.
The portrait has been interpreted in a variety of ways. Some critics have seen it as a portrait of two children from different worlds, with Marie-Louise representing the East and Édouard representing the West. Others have seen it as a portrait of two different personalities, with Marie-Louise representing the passionate and willful side of humanity and Édouard representing the more passive and compliant side.
Whatever interpretation one takes, The Pailleron Children is a powerful and moving portrait of two young people on the cusp of adulthood. It is a portrait that captures the complexity and contradictions of human nature, and it is a portrait that continues to fascinate and intrigue viewers today.
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August 3rd, 2023
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