Margaret Stuyvesant Rutherfurd White (Mrs. Henry White)

A woman in a white dress gazes quietly at us.
In her right hand, a fan; in her left, black opera glasses.
She seems to be on her way to a glamorous evening party.

Her name was Margaret White.
Her nickname was Daisy.
In 1882, at the age of 29, she was deeply impressed by John Singer Sargent's work at a Parisian salon.
She then commissioned him to paint her portrait.

Her husband, Henry White, was the first First Secretary at the American Legation in Paris.
The couple were true aristocrats, at the heart of European and American high society.
For Sargent, who was trying to establish his reputation in Paris, this was an absolutely crucial commission he couldn't afford to miss.

The painting began in late 1882 in Paris.
However, after only a few sessions,
Daisy departed for Nice in the South of France.

Normally, one would wait for her return.
But Sargent was different.
He carried the enormous canvas, over two meters tall, and followed her all the way to Nice.
He continued working there and then returned to his Paris studio to complete the painting.