American Art Collaborative

In the summer of 1876 John Singer Sargent painted a portrait of Charles Deering at the sitter’s home in Newport, Rhode Island. When Deering’s wife, Annie Rogers Case, died within months of Sargent’s visit, the artist wrote to Charles that he regretted having failed to produce “even an unworthy sketch of Annie taken from nature” when he had the opportunity. He promised to undertake her portrait on the basis of a photograph and his own recollections. The resulting work is an elegant likeness of a lovely young woman, but with a somberness and restraint uncharacteristic of the artist.