John Singer Sargent was born in 1856 in Florence, Italy even though his parents were native to North America. He was provided with little schooling other than geography, math and reading, but learned to speak Italian, French, and German. His mother was an amateur artist and encouraged him to paint with her and after seeing the skill and ability he had his parents enrolled him in his first-documented formal art training at the Academia di Belle Arti in Florence. In spring of 1874 his father sent John to Paris, which had become the world’s most powerful magnet for art students, to help nourish is learning of the arts and, after his education, Sargent traveled throughout Europe and to the United States looking for other painters and locations
