Caroline de Bassano, Marquise d'Espeuilles

The force of the conventions of decorum and taste may clearly be witnessed in John singer Sargent’s glittering, life-sized society portrait "Caroline de Bassano, Marquise d'Espeuilles." Sargent’s painting of the marquise is designed to register her position in society as a titled aristocrat. However, in place of the imposing setting usually referenced in grand-manner portraiture, Sargent isolates the marquise in an undefined space, perhaps in order to render her beauty as timeless.