John Jay Homestead State Historic Site

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William Jay II painted by John Singer Sargent 1888. William Jay II was John Jay's great-grandson and a veteran of the Civil War. An intelligent, sensitive man, he practiced law and was a noted society figure and coaching enthusiast. John Singer Sargent was the most prominent, and perhaps the most prolific, s ociety portraitist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He produced hundreds of portraits, which are typified by an attractive likeness of the sitter executed through rapid, dazzlingly accomplished brushwork. This portrait of William Jay II is notable as one of Sargent's plainer, but penetrating, portraits.
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