中文简介：

在约翰·辛格·萨金特（John Singer Sargent，1856–1925）的早期作品中，小说家亨利·詹姆斯（Henry James）曾评论到：“在其职业生涯的门槛上表现出一种略显‘离奇’的天才奇观，他已经没有什么可学的了。”萨金特的才华，不，是天赋，确实是不可思议的，体现在他丰富的作品中，如知名的社会肖像《X夫人》；大尺寸油画《爱德华·达里·博伊特的女儿》；数千幅水彩风景画，从威尼斯到科孚岛，从缅因州到蒙大拿州；以及他为波士顿公共纪念碑绘制的壁画装饰。

美国艺术评论家卡特·拉特克利夫（Carter Ratcliff）身拉特克利夫巧妙地再现了萨金特旅居国外的美国环境，并对他职业生涯的每个阶段，作品的每个方面提供了深刻的见解。现在，这本具有里程碑意义的专著首次以特殊的超大版式展示，所有 310 幅插图都以令人惊叹的全彩色复制，其中许多是整页大小，让读者认真欣赏大师的每一笔。

英文简介：

In the early work of John Singer Sargent (1856–1925), Henry James saw "the slightly 'uncanny' spectacle of a talent which on the threshold of its career has nothing more to learn." Sargent's talent, nay, genius was indeed uncanny, sustained with equal intensity through his famed society portraits, like the scandalous Madame X; his full-size showpieces, like The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit; his thousands of watercolours executed en plein air from Venice to Corfu to Maine to Montana; and his ambitious mural decorations for the public monuments of Boston.

In Carter Ratcliff, Sargent has found a biographer and critic nearly his match in style and subtlety. Ratcliff expertly evokes the expatriate American milieu into which the artist was born, and offers penetrating insights into every phase of his career, every aspect of his work. Now, for the first time, this landmark monograph is offered in a special oversize format, with all of its 310 illustrations reproduced in stunning full colour, many at full-page size, allowing the reader to appreciate the master's every brushstroke.