"William Butler Yeats," John Singer Sargent, 1907.
Y'all know Sargent, the great society portraitist, by now.
In the early 1900s, Sargent was at the height of his fame, but also starting to slow down a bit. He'd gone hither and yon doing portraits of anybody who was anybody, and had weathered the "Madame X" scandal, and had continued to work at a prolific pace. But soon after this portrait (a commission, to be the frontispiece to a collection of Yeats' poetry), he officially closed his London studio and slowed down significantly....but still painted, almost up until his passing in 1925.
Yeats (1865-1913) was an Irish poet, playwright, and critic who was one of the great figures of 20th century literature. He co-founded Dublin's Abbey Theatre, was the driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, was an Irish Nationalist, and received the 1923 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Although he was in his 40s when this was drawn, he looks quite young. Yeats was known to be fussy about his appearance, and to cultivate a Boho image; perhaps Sargent was being flattering. But spare charcoal-on-paper style works wonderfully.
Happy Portrait Monday!
From a private collection.
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