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Mrs. Edward Darley Boit (Mary Louisa Cushing)
John Singer Sargent American
Not on view
Edward Boit, a watercolor painter from Boston, and his wife, Mary Louisa Cushing Boit (1846–1898), were important patrons and supporters of Sargent. The daring portrait of the Boit’s four daughters, The Children of Edward Darley Boit (1882, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), painted by Sargent in Paris, was an important landmark in his early career. When Sargent arrived in Boston for his first professional visit in 1887, the Boits hosted him at their home and immediately commissioned this portrait of Mary Louisa ("Isa") and encouraged their affluent friends to sit for the artist.
The painting startled conservative Boston, not only because of Isa’s boisterous polka dotted dress, but also for the expression on her face. Writing about the portrait, Henry James observed, "she is wonderful and of a living! But she not only speaks—she winks—and the philistine will find her vulgar."
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