Henrietta Reubell

Henrietta Reubell (ca. 1849–1924) was a fascinating figure in Paris society who was best known for hosting a lively salon of cosmopolitan expatriate artists and writers. Among the frequent guests to her apartment at 42 avenue Gabriel were James McNeill Whistler, Oscar Wilde, Edith Wharton, and Henry James. While it’s not known how or when Sargent met Reubell, he likely presented her with this portrait as a gift in the mid-1880s.

Sargent depicts Reubell in an elegant interior, seated on a low chair in front of an Asian folding screen decorated with fantastical animal motifs. Within the intimate composition, Reubell leans forward and gazes candidly at the viewer. Her intertwined fingers are ornamented by several blue rings that she was known to have worn regularly. This diminutive painting displays on an intimate scale the ambition of the full-length formal portraits that Sargent created in oil during this period. The directness of execution and tonal palette inspired by his study of the Old Masters—particularly the work of Diego Velazquez—recalls Sargent’s Lady with a Rose and other paintings of the era. The rendering of Reubell’s candid, engaged expression and the complicated pose of her hands are hallmarks of Sargent’s best portraits.