Portrait Of Eugenia Errázuriz c. 1905

This is John Singer Sargent’s charcoal portrait of Eugenia Errázuriz. Look at the velvety darks pushing up against the stark whites of the paper. Sargent built the drawing slowly, adding layer upon layer to arrive at a likeness. Charcoal is such a flexible medium, and it invites you to subtract and erase, to get lost in the details, then zoom out and simplify. Sargent uses a flurry of marks to describe Errázuriz's face, especially around the eyes, nose, and mouth – those tell-tale features we use to recognize a person. I imagine him stepping back from the easel to consider if he has captured her essence, capturing her spirit, her intelligence. The feathery hat is wild, almost like a bird taking flight, a counterpoint to the soft contour of her face. Every artist, whether they know it or not, is in conversation with all the artists who have come before. I see echoes of Daumier in the boldness and intimacy, the attempt to catch a likeness.