John Singer Sargent’s American parents were traveling in Florence when he was born, in 1856. Sargent later traveled the world on his own, from Venice to Corfu and Capri, to the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida, and along the way became the foremost portrait painter of his generation. Endowing society figures with almost otherworldly grace, Sargent helped define the ethereal elegance of the Edwardian era. This exhibition at the Met focuses on his early years in Paris, from 1874—when he was a student of 18—to the mid–1880s. It was an extraordinary decade that culminated in his 1884 painting Madame X, a striking portrait of Virginie Gautreau in a black gown of jeweled straps and deep décolletage. —Elena Clavarino