An oil painting portrait of a fair-skinned young girl wearing a fancy military-style jacket and a crisp white blouse.

Alice Vanderbilt Shepard

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)

Date

1888
Object Type

Paintings
Medium

Oil on canvas
Dimensions

30 1/8 x 22 in.
Inscriptions

Recto:
signed u.l.: John S. Sargent
dated u.r.: 1888
Credit Line

Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas
Accession Number

1999.20
Copyright

Public domain

For Sargent, who lived his life largely abroad, encountering the highly educated American thirteen-year-old, Alice Shepard, was a new experience. According to family lore, she captivated Sargent with her beauty, intelligence, and especially her ability to converse fluently in French. Whether by design or circumstance, Sargent portrays her here in her fashionable, military-style walking suit, then considered proper public attire for a young woman as it masked her femininity.

We the People: Picturing American Identity

June 15–September 8, 2013

This exhibition focuses on the fluidity of national identity through the creations of American artists, particularly in key moments in history when the definition of a singular American identity was challenged and ultimately reshaped.

Location: On view

See more by John Singer Sargent

Educator Resources

What is the purpose of a portrait?

How has the purpose, media, and style of portraits changed and/or stayed the same throughout time?

How might an artist choose who to create a portrait of?

How might the background, clothes, facial expression, and body language depicted in a portrait reveal something about the sitter?

How can artworks tell us about a culture or society?

How might a viewer’s identity influence how they see a portrait?
As you look at this portrait, describe this person. Try to stick to observations of what can be seen and not draw conclusions right away.

Notice the face, the clothes, the hair, the background. What could those things tell us about the person we are observing? What mood do you think she is expressing through her facial features and body language?

How old do you think this person might be?

Try to sit in the same way this person is sitting. How long can you stay in that one place without moving? Often, sitters for portraits had to sit trying to stay very still for hours. Out of concern for Alice, her mother set limits for how long each painting session could last.

When do you get your portrait taken? What do you wear for your portrait? What is it like to pose and wait for the photograph to be taken? How are these types of portraits different from self-portraits or selfies that you take on your own? How does your clothing, background, or expression change in a selfie compared to a more formal portrait?
Grades 4–8

Have students write a brief narrative about spending an afternoon with Alice in the late 1800s. What things might they do and see together? What might Alice experience if she came to school and spent an afternoon with students today?

Grades 6–8

Have the students draw a portrait of themselves. It can be a portrait like Alice’s or a profile. Use colored pencils, crayons, or paint. We do not know anything about Alice just looking at her portrait. Have the students write words and phrases around their portraits to describe themselves, then share them with their classmates.

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