Edmund Gosse

Edmund William Gosse (1849–1928) was a literary historian, translator, and critic. He held positions at the British Museum, the Board of Trade, and the House of Lords Library, and wrote poetry, criticism, and biography. Gosse’s translations of Henrik Ibsen’s plays, including Hedda Gabler, brought the author’s work to the wider British public.
It was probably Henry James who introduced Gosse to Sargent in the summer of 1884. James wrote to Gosse to ask him to "second" Sargent, so that he might be introduced at the Savile Club in London. In the summers that followed, Sargent established himself in the English countryside and Gosse was a frequent visitor. Gosse’s reminiscences provide an insight into Sargent’s artistic personality and his approach to painting at a transitional period in his career. In this portrait, probably painted in London, Sargent presents Gosse rather formally, in keeping with his many distinguished accomplishments.