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though the disdain he seems to have felt for his subjects is not readily apparent in the portrait itself. Sargent painted the sisters in fine day dresses with yards of material draping across their laps and spilling out of the sofa and chair they are seated upon. The presence of everyday objects, such as two cups of tea, a small pitcher of milk, and a piano, give the painting a casual tone. Although the scene is quiet, still, and contemplative, Sargent includes one detail of implied movement in the form of a book. The two sisters seated on the couch are flipping through a book, and though
Sargent has painted all other elements in this scene with clarity, the pages of the book are blurred. Because of the objects within the scene and the positioning of the sisters, the scene manages to be both still and active at the same time, and the three Vickers sisters appear humble, despite their wealth.
248:"Three young ladies, painted in a thin and almost ghostly fashion, gaze straight out of the picture at you. They seem as insubstantial as beings from another world; these faces, medicated rather than painted, these cloudy dresses, these unsubstantial chairs and tables, are they portraits or are they mere suggestions for portraits? Seeing the picture for the first time... one inevitably answers that they are mere sketches; that the artist no doubt intends to carry his work much further. But a second and a third examination bring one to a different mind, and almost, if not quite, convince one that this art, at once very bold and very subtle, is legitimate; that the painter has really got in this apparent slighting the truth about his sitters, and that no further touches could put more life or more character into face or form or accessories."
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Vickers commissioned portraits of his wife and sons, and eventually
Sargent was commissioned to paint the portraits of thirteen members of the extended Vickers family. In addition to being their portraitist, Sargent knew the Vickers family on a personal level, and became a regular guest at family dinners and parties.
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and feared that he would lose the business of those who had already commissioned him for portraits, Colonel
Vickers did not withdraw his request. In July, Sargent travelled to the Vickers’ estate in Sheffield to begin the portrait. Following the competition of the portrait of his daughters, Colonel
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Following the wealthy, glamorous, and often-flashy clientele of Paris, Sargent viewed the commission from
Colonel Vickers, a businessman and head of a well-respected family, as a regression from what his career had been. He described his subjects as "three ugly women" who "lived in a dingy hole",
222:, a painting which was met with controversy and negativity from critics and the general public, who felt that the painting was overly sexual. Though Sargent left Paris soon after the negative critiques of his portrait of
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at the Royal
Academy in 1886. Despite Colonel Vickers being pleased with the portrait, art critics at the Salon of 1885 overlooked it. The general opinion was less than enthusiastic, but one anonymous critic from
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felt that the portrait was "in its way probably the cleverest thing in the exhibition. It is the ne plus ultra of French painting, or rather, of the French method as learned by a foreigner."
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in 1848. Rossetti's own portraits of women served as aesthetic inspiration to
Sargent. It has been noted that grouping of the three sisters in The Misses Vickers is very similar to
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134:, is a portrait of three sisters, Florence Evelyn Vickers, Mabel Frances Vickers, and Clara Mildred Vickers. The portrait was commissioned by their father, Colonel
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was first exhibited at the Salon of 1885 alongside a portrait of Mrs. Albert
Vickers, completed by Sargent in June 1884. Sargent later exhibited
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Sargent was commissioned to paint the
Vickers sisters just before his 1884 exhibition of
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American drawings and watercolors in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art: John Singer Sargent
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166.6 cm × 212.2 cm (65.6 in × 83.5 in)
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The
Wyndham Sisters: Lady Elcho, Mrs. Adeane, and Mrs. Tennant
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Mrs. Fiske Warren (Gretchen Osgood) and Her Daughter Rachel
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Herdrich, Stephanie L. & Weinberg, H. Barbara (2000).
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by John Singer Sargent - Yorkshire's Favourite Paintings
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Fairbrother, "John Singer Sargent: The Sensualist," 153
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389:. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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547:Egyptians Raising Water from the Nile
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282:Ratcliff, "John Singer Sargent," 89.
259:List of works by John Singer Sargent
808:Group portraits by American artists
467:The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit
344:John Singer Sargent: The Sensualist
195:The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit
177:The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit
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813:Paintings by John Singer Sargent
587:Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Phelps Stokes
523:Reapers Resting in a Wheat Field
155:Portrait of Mrs. Robert Harrison
720:General Officers of World War I
16:Painting by John Singer Sargent
818:Paintings in Sheffield Museums
739:Splendid Mountain Watercolours
184:Sargent was an admirer of the
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188:, an art movement founded by
555:Egyptian Woman with Earrings
770:Grand Central School of Art
765:Grand Central Art Galleries
539:Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth
531:Portrait of Mrs. Cecil Wade
515:Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose
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579:Portrait of Léon Delafosse
186:Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
672:The Hermit (Il solitario)
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206:Sir John Everett Millais
609:William M. Chase, N. A.
342:Fairbrother, Trevor J.
212:Execution and aftermath
803:19th-century portraits
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190:Dante Gabriel Rossetti
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563:Lady Agnew of Lochnaw
370:Yale University Press
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130:, painted in 1884 by
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594:Wertheimer portraits
571:Mrs. Hugh Hammersley
499:Portrait of Madame X
219:Portrait of Madame X
435:John Singer Sargent
355:John Singer Sargent
149:Mrs. Albert Vickers
132:John Singer Sargent
99:John Singer Sargent
44:John Singer Sargent
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507:The Misses Vickers
353:Ratcliff, Carter.
348:Seattle Art Museum
336:The Misses Vickers
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144:The Misses Vickers
140:The Misses Vickers
127:The Misses Vickers
90:The Misses Vickers
80:Weston Park Museum
25:The Misses Vickers
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459:Dr. Pozzi at Home
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201:Hearts Are Trumps
180:(1882) by Sargent
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95:oil painting
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750:(1912–1914)
656:Alpine Pool
649: 1905
636:(1904–1906)
596:(1898–1908)
558:(1890–1891)
550:(1890–1891)
167:Inspiration
82:, Sheffield
792:Categories
641:Arab Woman
396:0870999524
329:References
121:Background
68:Dimensions
712:Synagogue
451:Paintings
241:The Times
235:Reception
208:in 1872.
111:Sheffield
731:Drawings
664:Cashmere
475:El Jaleo
253:See also
76:Location
758:Related
372:, 2016.
361:, 1982.
350:, 2000.
115:England
742:(1870)
723:(1922)
715:(1919)
707:(1919)
704:Gassed
699:(1918)
691:(1915)
683:(1911)
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651:–1906)
628:(1903)
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604:(1899)
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93:is an
58:Medium
40:Artist
265:Notes
146:with
391:ISBN
152:and
53:1884
50:Year
97:by
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287:^
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