Henry James

In 1913 nearly 270 friends and admirers clubbed together to mark the novelist Henry James's 70th birthday, and the gift they chose was this portrait. Sargent, a fellow American and an old friend, refused any fee. James sat for him and pronounced the result a living, breathing likeness and a masterpiece. Then, in May 1914, while it hung at the Royal Academy in London, a suffragette named Mary Wood walked up with a small hatchet hidden in her sleeve and slashed the canvas three times before she was pulled away. She said she wanted to show that no property, not even art, was safe while women were denied the vote. Sargent repaired it himself, and if you look closely the mended tears are still faintly there.