'A Parisian Beggar Girl' connection to the Poirson family of France - John Singer Sargent



 A Parisian Beggar Girl, 1880

The model in "A Parisian Beggar Girl" (left side) is said to be Carmela Bertagna, a humble Parisian girl (right side). But are these two models the same person? The paintings were done about the same time. The hair styles are identical. At first glance I thought no, but looking closer maybe yes. What do you think? 

"A Parisian Beggar Girl", 1880, The Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago

"Carmela Bertagna", 1880, Columbus Museum of Art










Carmela Bertagna, c.1879, oil on canvas, 59.7 x 49.5 (23.5 x 19.5 in.), inscribed upper L: à mon ami Poirson; upper R: John S. Sargent; lower L: Carmela Bertagna/rue du/16 Maine. Bequest F.W. Schumacher. The picture’s history is muddled by the sitter’s questioned identity (a professional model, possibly Carmela B.), its stylistic clues (no later than 1880), diverse inscriptions (to later friends) and exactly from whom it was acquired before it was given to the Columbus Museum of Fine Arts. (by John P. Walsh)

"à mon ami Poirson": to my friend Poirson. In 1883 John Singer Sargent rented a studio owned by Paul Poirson. According to family history, this portrait of Poirson’s wife was executed in lieu of rent payment. Sargent’s friendly relationship with the Poirsons made this work more personal than the business action might suggest.


Madame Paul Poirson, 1885, Detroit Institute of Art

(Seymourina Cuthbertson Poirson)

Seymourina Cuthbertson was the natural daughter of the 4th Marquis of Hertford (1800-1870) and Madame Oger. She married Paul Poirson, brother of artist Maurice Poirson. Poirson owned the studio at 41, boulevard Berthier, to which Sargent moved in 1883. The portrait was painted in the period just before the scandal broke out over Sargent's Portrait of Madame X. 

According to family tradition, the portrait, like the Portrait of Mademoiselle Suzanne Poirson , her daughter, painted in 1884, was painted as 'rental', but no evidence of this has been found.










Equestrian Portrait of Seymourina Poirson, 1863, Nikolai Sverchkov 
The young lady in the painting presented here is the goddaughter and the foster child of Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford, a founder of the Wallace collection. Lord Hertford commissioned the work to Nikolai Sverchkov, who was then working in Paris. Seymourina Poirson (née Cuthbertson) is painted astride a thoroughbred horse, acquired by Lord Hertford at the famous Tattersalls horse auction, where he notoriously outbid none other than the French Emperor Napoleon III. As the legend has it, once Lord Hertford had learned the identity of his underbidder, he attempted to present the horse to him. This portrait, therefore, was commissioned to commemorate this purchase, as well as to showcase the beauty and elegance of his goddaughter Seymourina. 



Mademoiselle Suzanne 
- the daughter, Suzanne Poirson Girod (1871 - 1926)
- painted in 1884 when Suzanne was 13 years old


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