One of the most sought-after portraitists working in Europe and the United States at the end of the nineteenth century, John Singer Sargent created paintings that epitomize the era’s glamour and elegance, as well as its excesses. Sargent’s life-size portrait of Caroline de Bassano, Marquise d’Espeuilles, captures his Parisian subject’s icy poise. The dark, indeterminate ground, combined with Sargent’s use of theatrical light effects, accentuates the textures of her gown and wrap.