The most prolific American painter of the 19th century, with some 900 oil paintings to his name. Born to American parents in Italy, Sargent travelled the world. His paintings, capturing sumptuous fabrics and elegant sitters, evoke the Gilded Age in which he lived.
His most famous work, "Madame X", scandalised visitors to the Paris Salon in 1884 with its subject's heavy make-up and a dress strap slipping from her shoulder. Sargent repainted the strap in its proper place to appease the prudes, but cut ties with Paris, leaving for England and later America. He died in 1925.
A century after his death, "Sargentolatry" is thriving. The artist has been celebrated in a documentary, a spate of museum shows and the first solo exhibition devoted to him in France, at the Musée d'Orsay. His work was once of interest mainly to Americans and Britons but is increasingly popular in Asia, especially among Chinese social-media users—the subjects' confronting gazes and bright colours are intriguing even at thumbnail size.
Old age is too high a price to pay for maturity.