Museums Sheffield in England is one of those places I hope to visit one day. It has over 5,000 works of fine art in its permanent collection — including Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, Henri Toulouse-Latrec, Thomas Gainsborough, and others.
Hanging in the permanent collection of Museums Sheffield is this 1884 oil on canvas, John Singer Sargent’s, “The Misses Vickers”.
(You can click on the image for a full-sized picture)
I recommend viewing the full-sized image; I think it is extraordinary in its genuineness. While it is a posed portrait (rather than a depiction of a natural event) I think it does justice to Sargent’s gift for capturing people’s humanity. Beauty and ugliness, perfection and imperfection — it all stares us in the face in Sargent’s portraits.
“The Misses Vickers” was commissioned in celebration of the 21st birthday of the center model, Mabel Frances Vickers, seated between her sisters Florence and Clara. Unfortunately for the birthday girl, I think the picture does the most justice to Florence. The use of the blue lace dress greatly contrasts with the dark imagery in the rest of the portrait. My eyes are also more drawn to Clara than to Mabel Frances, as the image of a young lady in repose looking curiously at the audience commands my attention.
When I am sitting on planes, I often look through my collection of fine art, and every time I get to this painting I stop for longer than usual to just stare at it. The older I get, the less interested I am in landscape and abstract art, and the more interested I become in portrait art. I hope you enjoy “The Misses Vickers”.
