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Zorn always strikes me--though I'm prepared to be wrong--as a guy who met with great international success, and quite enjoyed going back home to poor, rural Sweden and being a prince there, painting local girls and generally being pleased with himself & his lot.
I don't, to be clear, have a thesis I'm working up towards. Here are a few Sargents, though, that I think are characteristic. In my read, Sargent--left to his own devices--just liked to go places, often with friends, and consider the things and people, exotic or mundane, around
(When I was in art school, I'd hire an extra model on the weekends to try to do something similar. I was very into this--later--statue of Mercury tying his sandal, in fact, by Jean-baptiste Pigalle, and tried to set my model up in a similar pose.)
And some watercolors he did. I don't know, but it's very likely that he did these first, while he was trying to decide what he wanted to paint as a more finished presentation piece.
I forgot one! Plus bonus ORIGINAL MEME, do not steal w/out crediting my Deviantart.
Menzel drew and painted with a great curiosity and interest in the world around him, producing what seem like countless (beautiful!) sketches of the mundane things around him, including--memorably--his own gnarly foot.
The two hands from the painting I've been working on. Model will be back again, but in the meantime I'll be trying to bring the props up to the same level of finish.