John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) and his medical legacy

摘要

Sargent was born on 12 January 1856 in Florence where his parents happened to be spending the winter. His father, Dr Fitzwilliam Sargent, was a Philadelphia doctor and part-time attending surgeon at the William Eye Hospital. On the lecture theatre wall the names of staff included that of father Fitzwilliam who resigned from the Wills Hospital in 1857 to support his wife Mary's hypochondriac desire to live permanently in Europe to restore her health. Fitzwilliam was an ectomorph, tall and thin with an overlong neck, long and tapering fingers. He had a fine prominent broad forehead and a dense walrus moustache. Wife Mary was wilful and spoilt. She managed to find just enough illnesses to keep the myth alive. This hypochondria allowed her to evade the life of a doctor's wife in Philadelphia and instead allowed a more sheltered nomadic lifestyle touring Europe. Son John, like father, was a six-footer with grey-blue eyes. He was neither handsome nor ugly but a beard gave him unforgettable distinction. Like mother he was wilful, curious and had a strong personality which allowed shyness and restraint inherited from father to blend into a pleasing and charming personality.