Eleanora O'Donnell Iselin (Mrs. Adrian Iselin)

1888

John Singer Sargent

Artist, American, 1856 - 1925

Shown from the shins up, a woman with pale skin, iron-gray hair, and wearing a high-collared, long-sleeved black dress, stands next to a table against a caramel-brown wall in this vertical portrait painting. Her body is angled to our right and she looks out at us from the corners of her dark eyes under arched brows. She has a straight nose and slight jowls along her jaw line. Her thin, coral-red lips are set in a straight line. A round pearl hangs from the earlobe we can see. Her hair is parted down the middle and pulled back under a black cap or cloth. Glints on that hair covering suggest pearls or other ornaments. Three jewels, also perhaps pearls, glisten at her high collar and black beads catch the light at the shoulders and cuffs of the puffy, long sleeves. The bottom edge of the tight-fitting bodice also seems to be beaded, and the full skirt flares out at the hips. The sleeves end with white, ruffled cuffs. She holds a closed black fan with her left hand, on our right, and wears a gold ring on that pinky finger. She stands just behind the corner of a cherry-red table edged with gold, to our left, and grips the corner with the fingertips of her other hand. The portrait is painted with loose but blended brushstrokes, giving it a soft look. The artist signed the painting in the upper left corner, “John S. Sargent” with the date in the upper right, “1888.”

Media Options

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Eleanora O'Donnell Iselin (1821–1897) was born into one of Baltimore, Maryland's most prominent and wealthy families. In 1845 she married Adrian Iselin, an affluent banker and dry goods merchant. The Iselins lived in New York City, where they were active members of high society and supporters of the city's cultural centers, including the Metropolitan Opera House, the American Museum of Natural History, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Eleanora's daughters Georgine and Emily commissioned the portrait from Sargent in the spring of 1888, as the artist's first professional visit to America was nearing its end.

The nearly full-length portrait shows Mrs. Iselin standing before an empty brown background. Staring sternly out at the viewer, she holds a closed fan in her left hand while her right hand reaches out to grasp the corner of an ornate Louis XVI-style table.

According to family tradition, when Sargent arrived at the Iselin home for the sitting, Mrs. Iselin entered the drawing room followed by a maid carrying an armful of ball gowns and asked him which one he wanted her to wear. To her dismay, Sargent insisted on painting her exactly as she stood without even removing her hand from the table. Some art historians have suggested that this interaction explains the sitter's somewhat severe expression. When late in life Sargent was asked if he remembered Mrs. Iselin, he diplomatically replied, "Of course! I cannot forget that dominating little finger."

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II, pages 108-111, which is available as a free PDF (21MB).

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Ernest Iselin

  • Dimensions

    overall: 153.7 × 93 cm (60 1/2 × 36 5/8 in.)
    framed: 181.93 × 122.87 × 12.38 cm (71 5/8 × 48 3/8 × 4 7/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1964.13.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The sitter's husband, Adrian George Iselin [1818-1905], New York and New Rochelle; their daughter, Georgine Iselin [1857-1954], New York and New Rochelle; her grandnephew (the sitter's great-grandson), Ernest Iselin [d. 1968], New York; gift 1964 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1894

  • Exhibition of Portraits of Women, National Academy of Design, New York, 1894, no. 259.

1924

  • Retrospective Exhibition of Important Works of John Singer Sargent, Grand Central Art Galleries, New York, 1924, no. 33, repro.

1925

  • Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the Late John Singer Sargent, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1925, no. 33.

1926

  • Memorial Exhibition of the Work of John Singer Sargent, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1926, no. 18, repro.

1945

  • Portraits of American Women: From Romanticism to Surrealism, Portraits, Inc., New York, 1945, no. 38.

1954

  • Sargent, Whistler and Mary Cassatt, Art Institute of Chicago; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1954, no. 55.

1976

  • Portraits USA, 1776-1976, Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 1976, pp. 28-29.

1980

  • La Pintura de Los Estados Unidos de Museos de la Ciudad de Washington, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, 1980-1981, no. 21, color repro.

  • Post-Impressionism: Cross-Currents in European and American Painting 1880-1906, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980, no. 267, repro.

1983

  • The Quest for Unity: American Art Between World's Fairs 1876-1893, The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1983, no. 61, repro.

1986

  • John Singer Sargent, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Art Institute of Chicago, 1986-1987, unnumbered, repro.

2007

  • America! Storie di pittura dal Nuovo Mondo, Museo di Santa Giulia, Brescia, 2007-2008, no. 208, pl. 222.

Bibliography

1925

  • Downes, William Howe. John S. Sargent: His Life and Work. Boston, 1925: 131.

1927

  • Charteris, Evan. John Sargent. New York: Scribner's, 1927, p. 260.

1954

  • Sweet, Frederick A. Sargent, Whistler and Mary Cassatt. Exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1954: 57.

1956

  • McKibbin, David. Sargent's Boston. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1956: 103.

1969

  • Mount, Charles Merrill. John Singer Sargent: A Biography. Rev. ed. (originally published 1955). New York, 1969: 136, 442.

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 96, repro.

  • Ormond, Richard. John Singer Sargent: Paintings, Drawings, Watercolors. New York, 1970: 41, 244, pl. ix.

1976

  • Dickson, Harold E. Portraits USA: 1776-1976. Exh. cat. Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, 1976: 70.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 218, repro.

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 10, 16, no. 40, color repro.

1981

  • Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: repro. 143, 144.

1982

  • Ratcliff, Carter. John Singer Sargent. New York: Abbeville Press, 1982, pp. 14, 116, pl. 8.

1983

  • Brown, Milton W. One Hundred Masterpieces of American Painting from Public Collections in Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., 1983: 84, pl. 85.

  • Pyne, Kathleen. In Huntington, David C. The Quest for Unity: American Art between the World's Fairs, 1876-1893. Exh. cat. Detroit Institute of Arts, 1983: 132-133, pl. 61.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 566, no. 863, color repro.

1986

  • Fairbrother, Trevor J. John Singer Sargent and America. New York, 1986: 117-119, 126, 188, 288, 289, fig. 30.

  • Hills, Patricia, et al. John Singer Sargent. Exh. cat. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1986: 154, pl. 104.

1988

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 136, no. 45, color repro.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 331, repro.

1994

  • Fairbrother, Trevor J. John Singer Sargent. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994, p. 70, pl. 71.

1998

  • Torchia, Robert Wilson, with Deborah Chotner and Ellen G. Miles. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1998: 108-111, color repro.

  • Ormond, Richard, and Elaine Kilmurray. John Singer Sargent: The Early Portraits. The Complete Paintings, Volume I. New Haven and London, 1998: no. 214, repro.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 338, no. 272, color repro.

Inscriptions

upper left: John S. Sargent; upper right: 1888

Wikidata ID

Q20189920

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