09-05-2025
Snobbery and sex appeal: the remarkable lives of Sargent's ‘dollar princesses'
By the time the 9th Duke of Marlborough decided to have his young family painted by John Singer Sargent in 1905, the artist had, according to Marlborough's American-born duchess, Consuelo Vanderbilt, 'gained a distinct ascendancy over contemporary artists in England'. Writing in her 1952 autobiography The Glitter and the Gold, Vanderbilt remarks that when the American artist displayed his portraits at the Royal Academy they 'were always the most startling and most discussed pictures, and were usually surrounded by crowds in violent disagreement over their merits'.
Now, on the centenary of Sargent's death, a fascinating subsection of his work is going on display at Kenwood House in London. Heiress: Sargent's American Portraits is the first exhibition to focus on his paintings and sketches of
