JOHN SINGER SARGENT (1856-1925) was born at Florence, Italy, of American parentage, and while he was educated in Europe and lived a good part of his life there, his work, and especially his water-colours, has exerted a great influence on the art of this generation in America. His clear and brilliant quality of painting
offered encouragement to other painters and helped keep the medium alive. He is quoted as saying that water-colour was his best medium and capable of greater artistic expression than oil. (See SARGENT, JOHN SINGER.)