Henry James

Henry James

John Singer Sargent

1913

Oil on canvas

33 1/2 in. x 26 1/2 in. (851 mm x 673 mm)

Courtesy of the National Gallery, London (NPG 1767)

Bequeathed by Henry James, 1916

According to the NPG site, “the American-born novelist Henry James settled in England, at Lamb House, Rye, in 1898. By the time this portrait was painted he was at the end of a career which had seen the success of early novels such as Portrait of a Lady (1881), followed by the late masterpieces The Wings of the Dove (1902) and The Golden Bowl (1904). This portrait was commissioned to celebrate James's seventieth birthday by a group of 269 subscribers organised by the American novelist Edith Wharton, although ultimately Sargent, a fellow American and friend, waived his fee. When it was completed James pronounced the portrait to be 'a living breathing likeness and a masterpiece of painting.'”

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