Sargent's Daughters: The Biography of a Painting (pgs 49-96)

Summary
The Boits became good friends with Sargent, they met in France and remain friends for the rest of their lives. Before Sargent painted the daughters he went to other places such as Spain, Morocco, and Venice to paint other portraits. Sargent's painting only some were unusual. When Sargent painted these girls he move some things around, they say Julia's lap her doll's position was changed. Mary Louisa was moved a bit further down in the painting. Sargent explain how it was hard to paint portraits, because the girls would not sit still and stay in their positions. Another girl named Marie-Louise posed badly and would get into arguments with Sargent, but there was days he was nice to them and played games with her and her brother. In the painting it was hard to tell what the Boit's furniture was because there was no records on when they brought them. Boit's large blue and white vases were made in Arita, Japan. It might of took Sargent one month and forty-five days to finish the painting of the girls. Sargent was inspired by Spainsh artist Velazquez. Sargent had the same mirror image of the girl "infanta Margarita Teresa of Spain" when he painted Julia. In Sargent's painting the distance of the girls is similar to the distance in Degas' painting called "family portrait." The girls were in the front hall of their apartment, and wore their everyday clothing for the portrait. In the painting the girls are not posed neatly, they are just all over the place. They say Sargent's paintings are very ambigous, where there could be multiple meanings are not meaning at all.

Quotation
When the Boit's agree to have Sargent paint a portrait of their daughters, Hirshler says that might of got advice from Henry James, "the policy of self-surrender to the artist...trust him completely and ask no questions...leave him his ways, his variations, his mysteries...You can't collaborate except by sitting still" (Hirshler 85).

Reaction
This statement said by Henry James is true when it comes to an artist painting a portrait of someone, you have to kind of let the artist do what they want to do and just be very trustworthy of what they are to do. As explained in the book Sargent is a very ambiguous man, so I can image that when people would want him to paint them they would keep their mouth shut and sit still. That leads into that the only way to be a big help to an artist is to just to sit still in that position for as long as it would have to take. It is like you really have to let the artist be in control of you in that moment. The artist has to be left alone, even to the point where the person should not ask questions. It is understanding that the Boit's would have follow what James had said, but the daughters might of had little trouble with sitting still for Sargent. I wonder why they would call it policy though? Do the people who agree to get painted have to just automatically know to respect this policy for the artist sake. This policy says that most painters have different and mysteries ways of painting, but it seems the same policy applies to every painter.