Family Romance: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers

by Jean Strouse, Susan Ericksen (narrator)

Jean Strouse's Family John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers looks at twelve portraits of one English family painted by the expatriate American artist at the height of his career—and at the intersections of all these lives with the sparkle and strife of the Edwardian age.

In commissioning this grand series of paintings, Asher Wertheimer, an eminent London art dealer of German-Jewish descent, became Sargent's greatest private patron and close friend. The Wertheimers worked with Rothschilds and royals, plutocrats and dukes—as did Sargent. Asher left most of his Sargent portraits to the National Gallery in London, a gift that elicited censure as well as it was a new thing for a family of Jews to appear alongside the Anglo-Saxon aristocrats and dignitaries painted by earlier masters.

Strouse's account, set primarily in England around the turn of the twentieth century, takes in the declining fortunes of the British aristocracy and the dramatic rise of new power and wealth on both sides of the Atlantic. It travels back through hundreds of years to the Habsburg court in Vienna and forward to fascist Italy in the 1930s. Its depictions of Sargent, his sitters, their friendships and circles, and the portraits themselves light up a period that saw tumultuous social change and the birth of the modern art market.

Genres: Art, History, Biography, Nonfiction, Art History, 19th Century, Audiobook

Audible Audio

Published March 11, 2025

About the author

Jean Strouse (born 1945) is an American biographer, cultural administrator, and critic. She is best known for her biographies of diarist Alice James and financier J. Pierpont Morgan.

Strouse was an editorial assistant at The New York Review of Books from 1967 to 1969. She was a book critic at Newsweek magazine from 1979 to 1983, and won a MacArthur Fellowship in September, 2001. She has also held fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She has contributed reviews and essays on literary and other topics to the New York Times Book Review, The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and Vogue. In 2003 Strouse was appointed the Sue Ann and John Weinberg Director of the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[jrendocrine at least reading is good · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun read - John Singer Sargent has definitely been a phoenix rising this century: he had been one of the most admired painters in England through the early 1900s but his work fell into disregard after WWII. Now we love him!

This book tells a specific story of his family portraits of a wealthy Jewish family in London, the Wertheimers who loved him, and he them. The Wertheimers seem to have disappeared from the world after downturns post WWs- probably somewhat owing to the two eldest sons dying early, and the two younger sons changing their names, presumably to be less obvious in the reliably anti-semitic UK scene (my opinion, disagree with me if you like). The daughters married out. Everyone died young back then - cholera, typhoid, cancer, suicide.

Jean Strouse touches lightly on Sargent, the Werthheimer history, the London scene and the times but links it all together quite expertly in discussions of Sargent's work. The Wertheimer paintings appear as nice reproductions in the text, along with a few Sassoons and a beloved one of Henry James. One of the greatest benefits of the book is to have the internet handy and search all of the many (many!) other Sargent paintings Strouse refers too - along with some Velasquez and Vermeer - they are truly gorgeous. [Go ahead, search "Group with Parasols - Siesta"; you won't be sorry!)

Sargent knew everyone - Henry James, Siegfried Sassoon's father, various Rothschilds, Freud, the Bloomsbury crew (Roger Fry did not like Sargent's paintings apparently). This is not the book to figure deeply about his background and psyche though he appears to have been a very sweet, humble and interesting man. With LOTS of friends.

Knowing these paintings exist in the Tate and the National Portrait Gallery gives me reason to plan a visit to the UK (maybe see some Vanessa Bell too). If Americans aren't welcome after these next 4 years, I suppose I can go see Sargent's murals in the Boston Public library.

Nice book, feast for the eyes.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could hardly believe my luck when a forthcoming book by Jean Strouse turned up in NetGalley to request. I didn't even look at what it was about until later, because I knew it would be worth reading. In 1985 I read Strouse's subtle and intelligent biography of Alice James, and really haven't run across her much since. Clearly, for much of that time she has been researching John Singer Sargent and the members of the Wertheimer family that he painted.

This book weaves a large and complex tapestry of the lives and worlds of wealthy Jewish families who established themselves in England in the 19th century. I know almost nothing about the world of art dealers, but the Wertheimer family made their fortune in the field, and it could be cutthroat. Sargent specialized for years in doing portraiture, which the family could afford, and he became quite close to many of the family members. Before he finally gave up portrait painting (his greatest genius) he painted not only all the Wertheimers but also many of the other wealthy Jewish people in their greater circle.

Following each member of the family through their lives, the book becomes almost a group biography. So many of them died quite young. Only one returned to continental Europe and died while interned, in fascist Italy. While the English Wertheimers did not suffer the catastrophe visited upon Jewish people (wealthy and otherwise) on the continent in the twentieth century, there was plenty of casual antisemitism in their world, even from the so-called progressives of the Bloomsbury set. And the disputed and varying place of Sargent's work in the world of British art is laid out, often with reference to the inexplicable hostility of the critic Roger Fry.

A helpful appendix at the back provides a list of all of the Jewish people portrayed in the work of Sargent, as well as a list of the current museum location of all his portraits of the Wertheimer family.

Worth reading for its intelligent look at both an artist and one of the specific worlds he portrayed.

[Matt Carton · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️-1/2. Strouse packs in a lot in these 250 or so pages: the European Jewish diaspora, a history of the art world from 1880-1925, John Singer Sargent, and the fascinating Wertheimer family. I’m a huge fan of JSS as it is. I was thoroughly intrigued with his relationship to the Wertheimers. Makes we want to go to the Tate and see all of these paintings.

[Annabel Holland · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Interesting combination of historical and art history text

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened/watched the author speak at the New York Public Library. The book has been reviewed by the New Yorker, December 21, 2024, "Now You See Me: John Singer Sargent's strange, slippery portraits of an art dealer's family."

I've seen many of Sargent's portraits, watercolors, etc. In December 2023 at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, I saw three Wertheimer portraits: Ena and Betty, Almina, and A Vele Gonfie. At the time, the Wertheimer name did not mean anything to me. So, reading this book was enlightening to learn about the Wertheimer family and the connection of Sargent and Jewish families. Earlier in 2023, I visited the Jewish Museum in NYC for the exhibition on the Sassoons. At the exhibition, there were Sargent portraits of Sybil Sassoon and also other paintings from the Philip Sassoon Collection. And in April 2025, the MET will exhibit, "Sargent and Paris" - obviously I will attend/view!

There is a wikipedia article on the Wertheimer portraits and the biographical dates of the family. Asher and his wife Flora had 12 children. According to the book, "He installed most of the paintings in the dining room of his town house on London's Connaught Place, where the artist was such a frequent guest that the room came to be known as "Sargent's Mess." Most of the paintings are housed at the Tate Gallery in London. An exception, the first portrait of Flora is housed at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

A snippet of the wikipedia article:

Asher Wertheimer married in 1873. His wife Flora (1846–1922) was the daughter of another London art dealer. Of their twelve children, four sons and eight daughters, two daughters died in infancy. The other ten children survived into adulthood, but the two eldest sons both died before their 30th birthdays:

1) a daughter, Sarah (1872–1873), who died in infancy

2) eldest son Edward (1873–1902), musician, intended to take over the business, died after eating a bad oyster on his honeymoon

3) eldest surviving daughter Helena (Ena) (1874–1935), married Robert Moritz Mathias (1874–1961) in 1905

4) second son Alfred (1876–1902), studied to be a chemist, died in the Boer War

5) second surviving daughter Elizabeth (Betty) (1877–1953), married Euston Salaman (1871–1916) and then Major Dr Arthur Ricketts

6) third surviving daughter Hylda (1878–1938), married Henry Wilson-Young (d. 1940)

7) fourth surviving daughter Essie (1880–1932?), married Eustace Wilding (1873–1939) in 1905

8) third son Conway (1881–1953), later Conway Joseph Conway, barrister

9) a daughter, Lizzie (1884–1886), who died in infancy

10) fifth surviving daughter Almina (1886–1928), married Antonio Pandelli Fachiri (1886–1928/9) in 1915

11) fourth son Ferdinand (Bob) (1888–1950), later Bob Conway, artist and writer

12) sixth surviving daughter Ruby (1889–1941), died at the San Severino Marche internment camp in Italy

[Desirae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jean Strouse’s Family Romance: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers is, at its core, an attempt to illuminate a particular artistic relationship rather than to produce a conventional cradle-to-grave biography. For a reader who already admires John Singer Sargent—especially as one of the defining painters of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras—the book offers moments of genuine fascination, though it ultimately feels less unified than it might have been.

Strouse centers her narrative on Sargent’s long association with the Wertheimer family, particularly the art dealer Asher Wertheimer, who became his most important private patron. Beginning in the late 1890s, Sargent produced a remarkable suite of roughly a dozen portraits of the family, an undertaking that forms the structural backbone of the book. These works are not merely decorative society portraits; they are subtle explorations of identity, wealth, assimilation, and performance in a rapidly changing world. The Wertheimers themselves moved within elite circles that included aristocrats, financiers, and cultural tastemakers, and their decision to commission such an extensive series was both a declaration of status and a bid for permanence within British cultural life.

For admirers of Sargent, the real pleasure of the book lies in its engagement—however intermittent—with the paintings themselves. Strouse is particularly attentive to the theatricality and psychological ambiguity that define Sargent’s best work. Even beyond the Wertheimer portraits, one cannot help but recall masterpieces such as Madame X, whose scandalous reception in Paris revealed how precariously Sargent balanced elegance and provocation. The sitter’s pale, almost sculptural presence, set against a void-like background, exemplifies his ability to elevate portraiture into something approaching myth. The same tension appears in Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, where a seemingly relaxed pose conceals a razor-sharp awareness of social performance, and in Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, whose luminous children suggest both innocence and artifice.

Strouse gestures toward these qualities when discussing the Wertheimer portraits, particularly in her descriptions of Ena Wertheimer, whom Sargent painted multiple times. These images, with their flowing fabrics and carefully staged poses, evoke the same blend of spontaneity and control that characterizes his finest society portraits. Sargent’s gift was always his ability to suggest movement within stillness—fabric that seems to ripple, a glance that feels fleeting, a body poised between relaxation and tension. Even in works like Dr. Pozzi at Home, with its flamboyant red dressing gown, Sargent captures not just a likeness but an entire persona: confident, sensual, and faintly theatrical.

Yet for all these evocative moments, Family Romance often feels diffuse. Rather than building a sustained argument about Sargent’s artistic development or offering a tightly structured biography, Strouse assembles a wide-ranging series of episodes—digressions into the art market, the decline of the British aristocracy, and the rise of new money in transatlantic society. These contextual excursions are undeniably interesting, and often sharply observed, but they can overwhelm the central narrative. As one critic noted, the book contains so much material that it “frequently loses focus,” expanding outward in multiple directions without always returning to a clear thematic core.

This structural looseness is particularly noticeable in the treatment of Sargent himself. He emerges less as a fully realized subject than as a figure glimpsed through a series of anecdotes and relationships. We see him as a cosmopolitan outsider—an American expatriate navigating European high society, a bachelor whose personal life remains elusive—but the book stops short of synthesizing these elements into a cohesive portrait. For readers hoping for a definitive account of Sargent’s artistic evolution—from the bravura confidence of Madame X to the atmospheric subtlety of his later works—this can feel like a missed opportunity.

Instead, Strouse’s focus remains firmly on the interplay between artist and patrons. This approach has its merits: it highlights the collaborative nature of portraiture and underscores how deeply Sargent’s work was embedded in the social fabric of his time. The Wertheimer commissions, in particular, reveal how portraiture functioned as both art and social currency, a means of negotiating identity within a stratified and often exclusionary society. The fact that these portraits later entered the National Gallery—not without controversy—speaks to their cultural significance and to the tensions surrounding class and ethnicity in Edwardian Britain.

Still, the book’s episodic structure can make it feel less like a carefully composed portrait and more like a sketchbook filled with intriguing but loosely connected studies. Individual passages are vivid and insightful, yet they do not always cohere into a single, compelling narrative arc. One is left wishing that Strouse had imposed a stronger sense of organization—perhaps by more clearly anchoring each chapter in a specific painting or moment in Sargent’s career.

In the end, Family Romance is a book to admire rather than to fully embrace. It captures the texture of a vanished world—the glittering yet unstable society that Sargent chronicled with such brilliance—and it offers valuable insights into the relationships that shaped his work. But like a gallery hung without a clear curatorial vision, it can feel scattered, its individual highlights never quite resolving into a unified whole.

For a devoted admirer of John Singer Sargent, the book remains worth reading, if only for the glimpses it provides of his extraordinary artistry. Yet it also serves as a reminder of how difficult it is to write about a painter whose greatest achievements lie not in narrative but in the ineffable language of paint—those shimmering surfaces and ambiguous expressions that no amount of prose can fully capture.

[Alison Fulmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a densely written book but worth reading if you have an interest in the work of John Singer Sargent. Uses the story of his relationship with and paintings of the members of a wealthy Jewish family in Britain to explore a variety of topics including antisemitism in the late 19th century

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strouse uses Sargent's Wertheimers portraits as a jump off point to discuss different aspects of Edwardian England, Europe, and United States. Nominally a family biography, Strouse also considers other prominant Jewish families like the Rothschild and the consequences of their entrance into the world of the rich and titled. Sargent's career as a portraitist is the main focus on the art side, as we examine critical response with Strouse providing her own.

This is not a straight forward biography, and it took a bit for me to get into because each chapter seemed to be about a disparate subject. Once I got farther in and the threads started connecting it got easier to read and more interesting. Maybe not the best start to a study of Sargent, but a good look at the culture of the late 1800s and early 1900s.

[Marks54 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a “biography” of sorts by Jean Strouse, who is a fine biographer - see for example her life of J.P. Morgan. This book, however, is a story of a relationship between an artist - John Singer Sargent - an a family. Sargent painted the family of Asher Wertheimer, his wife, and their children (some multiple times). This is the only example of such a focus by Sargent, who was the portrait painter of choice among British and American elites as the 19th century led into the twentieth. All, or most, of the paintings are superb. Asher was a well known art dealer and his family was a Jewish family that had found success in Britain as the old landed elites had to adjust to the arrival of new elites and new money by the nouveau riche of the US and Europe. This required art dealers to foster and market for old art in response to new money. The Wertheimer family, among others fit right into this, and Sargent was the artist/portraitist of choice of changing times.

The book is especially informative on the emergence of the art business in Britain and America at the time. I am not sure how much as changed since then. Spoiler alert - while one might thoroughly enjoy Sargent’s art, the processes by which art came to be bought, sold, and otherwise circulated among the elites of the time will seem a good deal messier than the actual art itself.

The book is exquisitely written and insightful. …and there are illustrations galore, especially of all of the John Singer Sargent paintings. I strongly recommend the book.

[Lisa Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Good Reads - I won this book in a recent giveaway. I really enjoyed this book, fascinating!

[Micebyliz]

If you are interested in the art of Sargent, and in the art market intrigue, this book is for you. You will find all the elements of opera--greed, jealousy, love, hate, murder, war, infidelity--and everyone's favorite!! anti-semitism! always rampant wherever bigots are present. i am always sad to learn that yet another artist i admired was in fact, a bigot. What gives?

[Rosalind Reisner · Rating 4 out of 5]

The centerpiece of this book is the set of exquisite portraits painted by John Singer Sargent, commissioned by the Wertheimer family in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Wertheimers were wealthy Jewish art dealers and Sargent was the portrait painter in demand by the British upper classes. Lots of stories about intrigue among the art dealers; the financial problems that led wealthy Brits to sell their art; and the anti-Semitism that dogged the Wertheimer family and tainted Sargent for painting them.

[Irwin Weiss, MD · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book and story about the interactions of the famous American painter John Singer Sargent and the family of Flora and Asher Wertheimer. We learn that although Sargent is considered an American painter, he spent almost his entire life in Europe. The Wertheimer’s were a rich Anglo- Jewish family who made their money by among things as art dealers. They had 10 children with most surviving to adulthood. The essence of the book is that the Wertheimer’s hired Sargent to paint their portraits in the 1890’s. The controversy basically revolved around their exhibit at the Tate Gallery in London.

We learn a bit about Sargent and the family he painted. Included in the book are reproductions of most of the Wertheimer paintings. We also learn a little of the situation for the upper crust of Anglo-Jewry during this period.

What makes this book a little difficult to follow is the many references to other works by Sargent without accompanying pictures. Also, narrative is a bit confusing for the non art expert, alternating between the reaction to the works and the story of the family.

We learn that this family has faded from history, probably because of their loss of Jewish identity through intermarriage but that Sargent has gotten a new look as a talented artist.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Family Romance: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers - is a fanciful title for the collaborative relationships that grew around the many, many members of the Wertheimer clan and Mr. John Singer Sargent. They were outsiders in many of the worlds they occupied - all of them driven individuals, but together they could do ANYTHING. And did.

Jean Strouse has been meticulous in her research, has found bits and pieces hiding in attics, boxes, dusty chests and right in plain sight. She's crafted a tale supported with primary evidence, gossip, letters, journals and dairies, with snide asides from the most credible compatriots of JSS and any one of the many, many Wertheimers. This was a long, detailed read. . .maybe just a little too long, but then that would have meant leaving out one of the many, many Wertheimers - and that would be missing too much.

When I pulled this book onto my TBR it was because I've been a JSS fan forever - and if it meant meeting some Wertheimers, I was ok with that. Well, this book is truly a 50/50 deal. It is not a book about John Singer Sargent's life in its entirety. This is not a book about the Wertheimers beginning to end. Jean Strouse's tale is a persuasion that proposes JSS was bigger and better because of the Wertheimers, and the Wertheimers were bigger and better because of JSS - he was part of their marketing, an important part of dissolving the Othering layered on them throughout generations. They were part of the funding, nurturing, and grounding circle of support that fueled the myth, magic and confidence that was John Singer Sargent.

A mighty book, Jean Strouse. I listened and for that and those persuasive words, 4 paint covered stars, but then made sure to get my hands on a print copy with all the paintings, charcoal drawings and the watercolors that melt me every time. . .there's the last star, a pop of gold in a cobalt sky. . .

*A sincere thank you to Jean Strouse, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* 26|52:2c

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected Family Romance by Jean Strouse to be about the relationship between the portrait artist, John Singer Sargent, and the Wertheimer family, of whom he painted a total of twelve portraits. Even though Strouse did allude to some interactions between Sargent and Asher Wertheimer and a couple of the Wertheimer children, there were two separate storylines—one about Sargent and the other about the Wertheimers and other families in their circle.

I did learn a great deal from Family Romance about Sargent, whom I admire greatly, especially after seeing the Sargent in Paris exhibition at The Met in New York recently. Mainly I learned that my views about Sargent weren’t entirely accurate—I believed he was sought after as a portrait artist due to his skill at portraying his subjects in the most flattering likeness. This tendency, I believed, was much of his appeal. According to Strouse, however, this was not always the case. There were many patrons who were dismayed, if not horrified, at Sargent’s depictions. Strouse includes a lengthy list of Sargent’s patrons who were very unhappy with his work, including a friend of Sargent’s, Henry Irving, who destroyed his portrait with a knife. (pp. 80-81). Another was the high-profile American collector, Isabella Gardner. She commissioned Sargent to paint her portrait and was not pleased with the results. She apparently hung hers in a private room (though this may be more due to the negative public response).

The book was good but oftentimes jumped around between time frames, which made it difficult to follow. There were also many, many names mentioned in later chapters that focused on the Wertheimer family and their circle of acquaintances, which didn’t add much to the story. Overall, however, it's an insightful book for fans of John Singer Sargent.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book that explores the professional life of John Singer Sargent and his long association with the Anglo-Jewish Wertheimer family. Sargent painted portraits of many of the family's members, and these portraits reside in museums such as the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Boston Museum of Fine Art, and many others.

The Wertheimers were a wealthy family with roots in Germany. They reached their height of influence in England in the late Victorian age with Asher, a renowned art dealer, who became a friend of Sargent's. The Wertheimers moved in an exclusive circle of other wealthy Jewish families, with whom they often intermarried. Asher and his wife Flora had 10 children. Sargent painted both of them as well as the children at different times. The two oldest daughters, Ena and Betty, were painted in the double portrait that appears on the cover of this book.

The commentary on art dealing and bequests to museums of Sargent's (and other leading artists of the period) work would appeal to anyone with an interest in art history, the politics of the late Victorian and Edwardian ages, the role of British Jews in commerce and other pursuits, and how they were seen through the ever-present anti-Semitism at the highest levels of British society.

[Roxana Schoen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly a fascinating subject (or subjects, really - lots of interesting threads of people moving thru this book). Well researched, deeply rooted in the time these people lived, with all the thought-influence going on that was inherited from previous generations and newly generated with the younger folks.

But ... we never actually read about anything related to the title, "Family Romance". I'm not even sure where that title came from. We barely learn anything about Sargent's and the Wertheimer's actual interactions as friends, client/customer, any relationship at all. I can read into a lot of what is here and guess at what some of that might have been - but that's hardly the experience that reading about a topic is supposed to be.

In hindsight, this book feels a lot closer to a draft, that never quite got the author's full attention at the end and never got a good editor's push-back that it's not ready for publishing, because the core promise of the title is barely brush-stroked in - it's still awaiting its many colors of rich oil paint. (Yeah, sorry, it seemed like the right analogy.)

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strouse's book looks at a series of portraits painted by John Singer Sargent for one powerful family in England, the Wertheimer's. Not only is the book a history of the portraits it places the relationship between Sargent and the paterfamilias, Asher Wertheimer at the centre of the book. Strouse manages to provide background for the Wertheimer's, Sargent and all involved.

...historian W.E.B. DuBois in The Souls of Black Folk (1903). The experience of being regarded as 'other' by a dominant culture, wrote Du Bois, 'is a peculiar sensation...this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.' 10

He once wrote to Vernon Lee, "O for Henry James' faculty of saying something so cautiously that you only know what he meant the next day.' 84

[Skip · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Singer Sargent was the preeminent portrait artist of his era: late 1800s/early 1900s. Jean Strouse has provided a thoroughly researched book about him and his patronage by the Wertheimer family, who were important art dealers in that same time period. Sargent's mastery was in showing who people were, both inside and outside. Strouse also discusses important social and economic themes, such as anti-Semitism (where museums were not interested in exhibiting Jews) and the decline of the British aristocracy and the rise of modern businessmen (including the transfer of their art and collectibles.) I found the book's organization to be unorthodox, even confusing at times, but liked the color plates.

[Marijean Miyar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A GOOD book! History, Art History, personalities galore, their interactions, etc. etc.
Why do I hate the title so much and why do I think it was a thoroughly misguided choice? By the editors? Certainly the author has done her due diligence. The book is deeply researched, even the tangential subjects (there are plenty of those...) get thorough treatment. It wasn't my choice to read it, the title kept me away, but my book club chose it. I started it grudgingly and by the end i was deeply invested. The last few pages on J S Sargent's waning and rising reputation could have been expanded but it covered the subject thoughtfully. Indeed, the book tackles so many different areas so well that it should have had a better title!

[Megon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fairly interesting book about an artist and pretty much everyone related to him in any way. There is a lot of information in it, but I don't feel like it was sorted in the best way. It was difficult to figure out who was who and it jumped around a lot, particularly at the beginning. And there was a lot of repetition throughout the book. And this has nothing to do with the author, but this is 2024.....I don't see any reason why we can't have full page, full color pictures of the art, placed where they are relevant to the story. How can we talk about the art without seeing the art? Whoever actually made the book didn't do it justice.

[Jwt Jan50 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Discovered WSJ Review year before last. Started last year. Went to the 'on pause' shelf for a variety of reasons. Finishing now. Remarkable research. Family epic that became less compelling after the 'rainmaker' passed away. Still - worthy of finishing. Thought enough of it (Sargent fan) that I bought the volume. Not something Granpa does often.

Finished last night. The 5*'s are for the author and her bringing this story to the reading public. Please read the reviews here before embarking as they're well written and thorough. Particularly for fans of Sargent, late Victorian/early Edwardian England, art history, 'Downton Abbey,' the Rothschild's, Edith Wharton and Henry James, etc, etc, etc.

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure how to rate or review this book. It is a book for a book club I have been in for almost 40 years and I'm leading it but I did not recommend it. I like Sargent's paintings and have seen many of them in person. I don't feel like I learned that much about Sargent and I think that was not the aurhor's intent. The relationship between he and the Wertheimes was not as apparent as I had expected. There was so much in this book that had little to do with Sargent or the Wertheimers that could have been omitted. I felt that this could have been an article in a magazine. But it has enticed me to find a biography about Sargent.

[Julia Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The relationship between artist John Singer Sargent and the members of the Wertheimer family in London is fascinating to read about. The Wertheimers were a family of Jewish immigrants who came from Bavaria during the early 1800's. They were collectors and art dealers. Sargent painted portraits of the entire family and Asher Wertheimer introduced Sargent to many other prospective clients.
The book explores how the relationship flourished and how Sargent became one of the most famous painters of his day.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A group portrait of artist John Singer Sargent and the family of art dealer Asher Wertheimer. It provides a detailed history of social and artistic transformations at the turn of the century by tracing the fortunes of each member of the sprawling Wertheimer clan. Besides exploring his friendship with the Wertheimers, the work also discusses Sargent's relationships with artists such as Monet and Rodin, his generosity to younger artists, and the arc of his posthumous reputation.

[Mary Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

We saw these portraits at the Tate on May 7, 2022, with the granddaughter of Sena Werthheimer as our guide. So it was a treat receive this book as a Christmas gift from Bernie. The books traces not only this remarkable series of 12 portraits, but a history of Jewish art dealers in Britain, a history of the artist, John Singer Sargeant and a history of many of Sargeant’s other paintings.
Fascinating.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written and accessible book that explores the relationship, part patronage part deep friendship, between artist John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers, a wealthy Jewish family in the opulent world of art dealing. This was such a readable book throughout but I felt the intellectual payoff really came at the end, as the author deftly framed both artist and patron as part of a transformation of modernity in British society, art, and economy in the early 20th century.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book about John Singer Sargent an American expat living in England who became a famous portraitist of the Wertheimer family among other aristocrats. The Wertheimers were German Jewish art dealers who immigrated to England. They were wealthy, Jewish, and promoted the arts. The decline of the English Aristocracy due to industrialization resulted
in the sale of their art and the start of museums where the art could be appreciated by the masses.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook
Narration 5 star 🌟

Fascinating and when purchasing the audiobook, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.
I was very intrigued with the angle of the title focusing on a wealthy and prominent Jewish family
I learned a lot about the various aspects of commissioning, selling and value of portraiture art by the master John Singer Sargent.

A lot of name dropping and who’s who in the early 20th century.
Narration was great and if you want a quirky subject matter, I’d recommend.

[Betsy Garside · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who likes art from, say, 1880 to 1920, this is your read. Yes, it is technically about Sargent and one family whom he painted many times over. It also, however, takes you into markets for art and why they move; what it meant to be Jewish in England; and how money and families start and end. Hat tip to my beloved for this Christmas gift!