Unlocking the Secrets of John Singer Sargent’s Technique

In this portrait painting tutorial, realist painter Alex Tzavaras paints a female portrait from life using John Singer Sargent’s Alla Prima oil painting technique. John Singer Sargent was one of the leading portrait painters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In an age when there were so many outstanding realist painters, Sargent was particulary renowned for his virtuosity and skill. For this reason, he is one of the most influential artists on realist painters today. Sargent used an Alla Prima oil painting technique, where paint is applied wet on wet with out letting earlier layers dry. The process being followed in this portrait painting demonstration is based on eyewitness accounts of the Sargent’s working methods, taken from a biography written in 1927 by The Hon. Evan Charteris. Charteris’ book is now longer in print, but fortunately for us we can still read about these accounts thanks to a fantastic ebook titled “Advice on Painting from John Singer Sargent“ wr