In this week’s blog, Costume Society News Editor Dr Babette Radclyffe-Thomas reviews Heiress: Sargent’s American Portraits at Kenwood, Hampstead, London.
To celebrate the centenary of John Singer Sargent’s death, English Heritage has for the first time ever gathered 18 of Sargent’s portraits at Kenwood. Heiress: Sargent’s American Portraits is curated by Wendy Monkhouse and reveals the stories of the American women who crossed the Atlantic to marry British aristocrats.
Several of these portraits are on show for the first time, and all depict women who were part of the transatlantic marriage phenomenon of the late 19th and early 20th century when young American heiresses married into the British aristocracy, what became known as ‘buccaneers’ or ‘Dollar Princesses’. There are loans from institutions in Washington, Boston and Houston as well as from private collections.
The exhibition looks behind the labels often given to these women, breaks down these stereotypes such as the ‘cash for coronets’ trope and shows the real women behind these magnificent portraits. Heiress recognises the women for their achievements and individual experiences and the exhibition tells their stories through Sargent’s portraits. There are of course the trappings of great wealth but also stories of political achievement, contributions to the arts and society, and often loving marriages. These women changed the face of British politics, funded war hospitals and flew helicopters to the Ritz!
“Heiress explores a side to Sargent’s portraits not often considered: the real lives of the women behind the works. Dismissed historically as the ‘Dollar Princesses’, their stories were far more complex than this throwaway label. Visitors are also able to enjoy Sargent’s mastery of portraiture in the context of Anglo-American politics and social change, while getting to know the women who braved marrying into the Old World,” Wendy Monkhouse, English Heritage’s Curator of the exhibition, said.
Spread across two grandiose rooms, the high-ceilinged period rooms make for a stunning setting and there are a mix of oil paintings and charcoal portraits. There are portraits of Nancy Astor and a charcoal portrait of Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough, that has never been on public display before and shows one of the most famous of the American heiresses.
Dress is clearly a key focus of Sargent’s portraits and there are various items for a dress history fan. There are corsets, evening gowns, diamond tiaras and pearl chokers. One of the highlight items especially for costume and dress historians is Sargent’s portrait of Jessie Wilton Phipps (later Dame). Phipps who became a public servant, a member of the London County Council and a campaigner for the blind, is painted adorned in pearls, diamonds, gold and an interesting black and white corset, worn on top of a lilac gown. The ‘corset’ here is shaped exactly as a regular corset but sits lower under the bust and higher over the hips than a traditional corset of the period. There was a fashion in the mid-1880s (the portrait is from 1884) for a corset-style boned panel (sometimes separate, sometimes integrated) as part of the bodice, and the look is both risqué and eye-catching look for a high society woman. The portrait is hung in the centre of the main exhibition room and has not been on show in England for over 70 years.
Another costume highlight is Mary Crowninshield Endicott Chamberlain (Mrs Joseph Chamberlain), 1902, portrait. She and Sargent chose a white silk with blue drapery volante from the House of Worth in Paris, as she was a keen fashion aficionado.
Sargent’s 1898 portrait of Pauline Astor, commissioned by her father after her 18th birthday is another highlight. Astor’s coming-out ball, adhering to fashions twenty years out of date wasn’t a success, but in this portrait she is shown in pearls, silks, satins and carrying a magnificent fur muff. While Nancy Astor’s 1908 portrait by Sargent shows wearing her characteristic hat that she wore as part of a public uniform, designed to discourage press coverage of her outfits.
The exhibition runs until 5th October 2025.
Some of the same Sargent heiresses were also previously on display at Tate Britain’s 2024 blockbuster exhibition Sargent and Fashion, and you can read Dr Babette Radclyffe-Thomas’ review of that here.
