Paint LIKE SARGENT

John Singer Sargent is considered one of the most influential portrait painters of the 19th century. A prolific artist, he produced around 900 oil paintings and many more drawings. In this article I will be painting a copy of Sargent’s portrait of General Sir Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton from the National Galleries of Scotland’s collection.

Sargent was a teacher of art as well, but many were confused by his teaching methods, often finding his lessons cryptic and confusing. He urged the necessity of self-discipline, of never being satisfied with easy conclusions, and of always trying to do the thing just beyond one’s capacity. Making every stroke have significance was key, and Sargent emphasised training the eye, hand and mind to work swiftly and in unison.

Sargent never wrote a memoir or a book dedicated to his oil painting techniques, but luckily some accounts of his methods made by his students survive, which I have relied