John Singer Sargent, Portrait of Carolus-Duran, 1879

By age 13, John Singer Sargent spent much time studying paintings in museums. Everywhere he went, he took his notebook to sketch and paint what he saw. Mrs. Sargent (John's mother) had friends who encouraged her to arrange professional training for her son. It was a result of this early interest that Sargent met Carolus-Duran.

Sargent first met Carolus-Duran in 1874, when his parents enrolled him in École des Beaux-Arts, an art school in Paris. Carolus-Duran, after assessing Sargent's portfolio, decided to let him study art as his pupil. According to Carolus-Duran, Sargent was to unlearn certain methods he had acquired, but expressed optimism at the young boy's natural talent.

He quickly became one of Carolus-Duran's best students and gained the respect of his peers through his sheer innate ability. The school emphasized the importance of drawing as the foundation of visual art, while Carolus-Duran had his own ideas. He focused on manipulating the paint sensuously. Carolus-Duran held that artists should paint in a fluid way.

Originally, Sargent was interested mainly in landscapes (which explains his numerous sketches of mountains and seas). However, after studying under Carolus-Duran, he developed an interest in creating art out of the people he met. It was with Carolus-Duran's guidance that Sargent started his career in portraiture and gave him an interest in the subject.