Sargent attained international prominence as a fashionable society portraitist. In both formal and informal scenes, Sargent captured his wealthy clients' physical and psychological natures, the gentility and sumptuousness of the era, and the impression of a fleeting moment.

The disposition of the elongated figure is natural and straightforward, seen in three-quarter view, with her head turned inquisitively, as though she might have walked immediately into this position and looked at Sargent. The personality of Mme. Poirson is suggested by the aloofness of her gaze and the icy blue color of the background.

A Rent Payment
 In 1883 John Singer Sargent rented a studio owned by Paul Poirson. According to family history, this portrait of Poirson's wife was executed in lieu of a rent payment. Sargent's friendly relationship with the Poirsons made this work more personal than the business transaction might suggest.
Chase was deeply influenced by the Spanish painter Velasquez. He named a daughter Helen Velasquez and painted her as an Infanta in homage to Velasquez's portraits for the Spanish court. In Portrait of a Lady in Black, the Spanish influence is obvious in the way Chase handles the values of reflected light and the strong emphasis on the immediate foreground. The brushwork in the sleeves, collar, and bodice of the dress are clean, crisp, and assertive, serving as a foil to the luminous tones of the woman's face and arms. Chase seems to capture, through her facial expression and standing pose, the determined attitudes of a commanding figure.
The Fencing Master is one of two oil paintings of this subject by Melchers. They belong to a small group of full-length pictures of men dressed for their occupational roles. These works are not commissioned portraits but genre paintings in which the individuals are posed in characteristic settings and clothes. Here the emphasis is on the design of the painting rather than the particular identity of the subject, French painter Ernest Noir.
Mosquito Nets is a beautiful example of Sargent's ability to translate a momentary impression into a masterful composition. The picture represents the artist's sister Emily with her friend Eliza Wedgwood, a member of the famous porcelain manufacturing family. It was painted in Valdemosa, Majorca, where the three were spending an autumn holiday. There, in Eliza's words, "Sargent painted in oils such an amusing picture of Emily and me--in what John called 'Garde Mangers,' Emily's invention for keeping out mosquitoes." In this intimate and affectionate view, we see the women close-up and at a diagonal angle, reminiscent of "snapshot" views used by Cassatt and Degas. Emily is seated in an armchair and rests against one of the red pillows from the sofa beside her; Eliza is reclining on the sofa.