Great Expectations

Sargent's reputation is often defined by his remarkable achievements as a painter of sophisticated society portraits. However, as this innovative examination of his career reveals, he created a significant number of children's portraits and genre paintings featuring children. The title of the book makes ironic reference to Charles Dickens' famous novel Great Expectations, and is used in this book to suggest how Sargent's paintings of children related to the expectations associated with representations of childhood in the art and literature of Sargent's day. The book also traces how Sargent ultimately advanced childhood as an artistic subject.The book contains five essays by three notable curators and professors of fine arts, and is illustrated with Sargent's truly stunning and often lesser-known paintings of children. Some are portraits of his own children. Included as an interesting comparison are images of other artists' paintings of children. Sargent family photographs, some of which are prevously unpublished, are also featured.