Egyptian Woman with Earrings

By 1890 John Singer Sargent was the most sought-after society portraitist on either side of the Atlantic, but this was painted far from any drawing room. He had taken a commission to decorate the Boston Public Library with murals on the history of religion, and to prepare he traveled through Egypt, Greece and Turkey, studying ancient art and recording faces and scenery along the way. In Egypt he made a run of quick portrait studies of local men and women, this among them, a woman in large earrings and a pendant necklace, her head turned in warm light. No commission, no fee, no sitter's name written down. He worked these heads fast, for himself, simply looking at people he would never be asked to paint.