Portrait of Lady Sassoon 1907

This is John Singer Sargent’s portrait of Lady Sassoon, made with oil on canvas. The composition is dark, but her face is bright and expressive. I imagine Sargent thinking about Velasquez when painting this. Can you see it too? I wonder if the portrait was commissioned, and whether that made it easier or harder to execute. Was Sargent trying to impress, flatter, or record? Did he have any skin in the game? It's cool how the fluffy edges of her lace collar are painted with dry brushstrokes, giving it a feathery, almost unfinished effect. It makes you think about how paintings come into being through touch. Lady Sassoon's pose is kind of mysterious, and her hands are clasped in an unusual way. This makes me wonder about other painters like Manet, who also played with capturing the ambiguous qualities of modern life. Anyway, whatever, it’s a great painting.