Editing John Singer Sargent (section)

==Early life==
Sargent was a descendant of [[Epes Sargent (landowner)|Epes Sargent]], a colonial military leader and jurist. Before John Singer Sargent's birth, his father, FitzWilliam (b. 1820 in [[Gloucester, Massachusetts]]), was an eye surgeon at the [[Wills Eye Hospital]] in Philadelphia from 1844 to 1854. After John's older sister died at the age of two, his mother, Mary Newbold Sargent (née Singer, 1826–1906), suffered a breakdown, and the couple decided to go abroad to recover.<ref name="biography.com">{{cite web |title=John Singer Sargent |url= https://www.biography.com/people/john-singer-sargent-9471905 |publisher=[[Biography.com]] |access-date=September 25, 2018 |archive-date=September 25, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180925180729/https://www.biography.com/people/john-singer-sargent-9471905}}</ref> They remained nomadic expatriates for the rest of their lives.<ref>Olson (1986), p. 1.</ref><ref>{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Sargent, Paul Dudley}}</ref> Although based in Paris, Sargent's parents moved regularly, spending seasons at the sea and at mountain resorts in France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.

While Mary was pregnant, they stopped in [[Florence]], Tuscany, because of a [[cholera]] epidemic. Sargent was born there in 1856. A year later, his sister Mary was born. After her birth, FitzWilliam reluctantly resigned his post in Philadelphia and accepted his wife's request to remain abroad.<ref>Olson (1986), p. 2.</ref> They lived modestly on a small inheritance and savings, leading a quiet life with their children. They generally avoided society and other Americans, except for friends in the art world.<ref>Olson (1986), p. 4.</ref> Four more children were born abroad, of whom only two lived past childhood.<ref>xxxx, p. 11.</ref>

Although his father was a patient teacher of basic subjects, young Sargent was a rambunctious child, more interested in outdoor activities than his studies. As his father wrote home: "He is quite a close observer of animated nature."<ref>Olson (1986), p. 9.</ref> His mother was convinced that traveling around Europe, and visiting museums and churches, would give young Sargent a satisfactory education. Several attempts to have him formally schooled failed, owing mostly to their itinerant life. His mother was a capable amateur artist and his father was a skilled [[medical illustrator]].<ref>Olson (1986), p. 10.</ref> Early on, she gave him sketchbooks and encouraged drawing excursions. Sargent worked on his drawings, and he enthusiastically copied images from ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'' of ships and made detailed sketches of landscapes.<ref>Olson (1986), p. 15.</ref> FitzWilliam had hoped that his son's interest in ships and the sea might lead him toward a naval career.

At thirteen, his mother reported that John "sketches quite nicely, & has a remarkably quick and correct eye. If we could afford to give him really good lessons, he would soon be quite a little artist".<ref>Olson (1986), p. 18.</ref> At the age of thirteen, he received some watercolor lessons from [[Carl Welsch]], a German landscape painter.<ref name="Little (1998), p. 7"/> Although his education was far from complete, Sargent grew up to be a highly literate and cosmopolitan young man, accomplished in art, music, and literature.<ref>Olson (1986), p. 23.</ref> He was fluent in English, French, Italian, and German. At seventeen, Sargent was described as "willful, curious, determined and strong" (after his mother) yet shy, generous, and modest (after his father).<ref>Olson (1986), p. 27.</ref> He was well-acquainted with many of the great masters from first-hand observation, as he wrote in 1874: "I have learned in Venice to admire [[Tintoretto]] immensely and to consider him perhaps second only to [[Michelangelo]] and [[Titian]]."<ref>Olson (1986), p. 29.</ref>