John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)
The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit
Oil on canvas, 1882
(222.6 x 221.9 cm)
Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, United States)

None of the girls ever married, and both Flourennce and Jane, the two rear daughters, became to some extent mentally or emotionally disturbed. Mary Louisa and Julia, the front two girls, remained close as they grew older, and Julia, the youngest, became an accomplished painter in water-colors. (Ormond, P.56)

There was no way John Sargent could have know the psychology or what life held for these children when he painted them in 1882. Could this have been a fluke— the way they were positioned, the rear daughters detached from us, the one leaning on the vase not even looking at us? Maybe. Was he just lucky? Possibly.  But it is my considered opinion that John Singer Sargent’s gift of seeing the world was very special.