Born Jan. 12, 1856, in Florence; died Apr. 15, 1925, in London. American painter.

Sargent studied in Paris from 1874 to 1879. Beginning in 1885 he lived in London and periodically visited the United States. He was influenced by G. Courbet and E. Manet. A brilliantly proficient painter, Sargent displayed acute powers of observation and an interest in psychology in several of his works, for example, his portrait of R. L. Stevenson (1884–87, Taft Museum, Cincinnati). He became famous, however, as a painter of masterful society portraits (Madame X, 1884, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), effective genre pictures (Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, 1885–86, Tate Gallery), and wall murals, including those in the Boston Public Library (1894–95).