John Singer Sargent: Carolus Duran

"Dame au Gant" by Carolus Duran

"Few painters have reached success by steeper paths than Carolus Duran, John Singer Sargent's most famous teacher. Duran was born at Lille on July 4, 1837, and in time was entered as a pupil of the painter Souchon, who had been a pupil of David. His promise was unmistakable, but his poverty was great. After bitter struggles he amassed just sufficient money to seek in 1858 the wider field of Paris. Here his talents were unrecognized, and he was unable to earn a livelihood. 

He attended not the Ecole des Beaux Arts but the Academie Suisse, where he met Fantin Latour, and where teaching meant, in the main, leaving pupils to work out their own salvation. He frequented the Louvre, and by copying well-known pictures for a few francs he was able to keep himself from actual want. His hope was fast failing. But he believed in himself, and he was gifted with a spirit not easily vanquished. 

At the blackest moment in 1860, he returned to Lille, where with his picture 'Visite au Convalescent' he won the Wicar prize. With the money he set out for Italy. There in the monastery of Subiaco, in the neighbourhood of Rome, he shut himself up to study the elements of his art. From thence he returned to Paris to experience a further period of trial and discouragement. He could find no patron and he was unable to obtain orders.

Then in 1866 he produced a picture, 'L'Assassine,' strongly  marked by the influence of Courbet and now in the museum at Lille. The purchase of the picture enable Carolus Duran to visit Spain where he fell under the influence of Velasquez. After six months he returned to Paris, dominated by his impressions of the Spanish master, whose works he had assiduously copied. Under this new inspiration, he painted 'La Dame au Gant,' a portrait of Madame Duran. With this picture his reputation was established. He moved from success to success, becoming the most popular portrait painter in Paris. Fortune, as if to atone, now showered on him prosperity and success. He became a dominant figure in Paris life. 

He was a favourite of the critics. He was acclaimed as a colourist. His portraits were applauded for their incisive force, for the skill with which he laid emphasis on revealing characteristics, for his power of detaching the sitter from superflouous accessories and decor and bringing him into a relation personal with the spectator.

It was at this point, in 1874, that John Singer Sargent entered his atelier."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "John Sargent" by Evan Charteris.)