范妮·沃茨，萨金特的童年朋友。在巴黎沙龙，1877年，第一张画费城艺术馆萨金特出生之前，他的父亲菲茨威廉（B。1820 格洛斯特，马萨诸塞州），是一位眼科医生在遗嘱眼科医院在费城1844年至1854年。经过约翰的姐姐在两岁的时候去世，他的母亲玛丽（姓歌手）遭受了破裂，夫妻俩决定到国外去恢复。他们保持游牧的外籍人士为他们的生活休息。 虽然总部设在巴黎，萨金特的父母随季节大海和山区度假胜地在法国，德国，意大利和瑞士定期感动。虽然玛丽怀孕了，他们停止了佛罗伦萨，托斯卡纳因为中，霍乱 疫情。萨金特于1856年出生在那里一年后，他的妹妹玛丽出生。她出生后，菲茨威廉勉强辞去他的职务在费城和接受了他的妻子恳求留在国外。他们谦虚地住在一个小的继承和储蓄，过着平静的生活与他们的孩子。他们通常避免社会和除了在艺术世界的朋友其他美国人。四个更多的孩子在国外出生的，其中只有两个活过童年。
虽然他的父亲是基础学科的耐心的老师，年轻的萨金特是一个粗暴的孩子，更感兴趣的不是他的研究户外活动。由于父亲写信回家，“他是动画的性质相当密切的观察。” 他的母亲是很相信，在欧洲各地旅行，参观博物馆和教堂，会给年轻的萨金特一个满意的教育。多次尝试让他接受教育正式失败，主要是由于他们的流动生活。萨金特的母亲是个不错的业余艺术家和他的父亲是一名熟练的医疗插画。在早期，她给了他的速写本，并鼓励绘图游览。年轻的萨金特与护理工作在他的绘画，他热情地复制从图像伦敦新闻画报船，并提出景观的详细草图。菲茨威廉曾希望他的儿子的船舶和海洋权益可能会导致他走向的海军生涯。

在十三岁，他的母亲报告说，约翰“草图相当不错，与具有极其快速和正确的眼睛。如果我们有能力给他真的很好的教训，他很快就会是一个相当小画家。” 在岁十三，他收到了一些水彩画教训卡尔·韦尔施，德国风景画家。尽管他的教育远远没有完成，萨金特长大后成为一个非常有文化和国际化的年轻人，在艺术，音乐和文学成就。他能说流利的法语，意大利语和德语。在十七岁，萨金特被形容为“故意，自信，决心和坚强”（他的母亲）还害羞，大方，温和的（他的父亲）。他也认识了很多大师，从第一手的观察，因为他在1874年写道，“我已经在威尼斯学会欣赏丁托列托巨大，并认为他也许仅次于米开朗基罗和提香。”
 

厄尔尼诺人声鼎沸（西班牙舞者），C。1879年至1882年，伊莎贝拉·斯图尔特·加德纳博物馆1879年，时年23岁的萨金特画老师卡罗勒斯-杜兰的肖像; 演奏家努力满足公共批准，并宣布了他成熟的工作将采取的方向。它显示在巴黎沙龙既要归功于他的老师和肖像佣金的广告。中萨金特的早期作品，亨利·詹姆斯写道，艺术家提供了“的人才略”离奇“的奇观，在很门槛其职业生涯中有没有更多的了解。“

离开卡罗勒斯-杜兰的工作室后，萨金特访问西班牙。在那里，他学习的画委拉斯开兹与激情，吸收大师的技术，并且在他的游记聚集的想法对未来的作品。他与西班牙音乐和舞蹈着迷。此行也重新唤醒了他自己的音乐天赋（这是几乎等于他的艺术天赋），并且发现在他的早期代表作视觉表达厄尔尼诺人声鼎沸（1882）。音乐将继续在他的社会生活中发挥的重要组成部分，以及，因为他是业余和专业的音乐家的伴奏熟练。萨金特成为现代作曲家，尤其是大力倡导加布里埃尔·佛瑞。旅游意大利几威尼斯街景提供的草图和思想流派的画作，从而有效地捕捉手势和姿势，他会发现在后来的肖像画是有用的。在他的回归，萨金特很快收到几个肖像佣金。他的职业生涯正式启动。他立刻证明了使他能与工人一样稳健画下一个25年浓度和耐力。他填补了国内空白委员会之间与朋友和同事许多非委托肖像画。他举止文雅，完美的法语，和高超的技巧使他成为新的肖像画家中的佼佼者，他的名声迅速传播。他自信地设置高价格和拒绝不满意的保姆。他指导过他的朋友埃米尔·福克斯谁在学画的肖像在油中。
 

Fanny Watts, Sargent's childhood friend. In 1877, before the first salon in Paris, Philadelphia Museum of art painting Sargent was born, his father Fitz William (B. 1820 Gloucester, Massachusetts, is an ophthalmologist at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia from 1844 to 1854. After John's sister died at the age of two, his mother, Marie, suffered a break, and the couple decided to go abroad to recover. They keep nomadic expatriates to rest for their lives. While based in Paris, Sargent's parents moved regularly with seasonal sea and mountain resorts in France, Germany, Italy and switzerland. Although Marie was pregnant, they stopped in Florence, Tuscany because of the cholera epidemic. Sargent was born in 1856, a year later, his sister, Marie, was born. After her birth, Fitz William reluctantly resigned from his position in Philadelphia and received his wife to stay abroad. They lived modestly in a small inheritance and savings, lived a quiet life with their children. They usually avoid society and other Americans in addition to friends in the art world. Four more children born abroad, only two of them survive childhood.
Although his father is a basic subject of patience with the teacher, young Sargent is a rude child, more interested in his study of outdoor activities. As the father wrote home, "he was animated by a pretty close observation of nature." His mother is very confident that traveling around Europe, visiting museums and churches will give young Sargent a satisfactory education. Many attempts to get him to accept a formal education failure, mainly due to their mobile life. Sargent's mother was a good amateur artist and his father was a skilled medical illustrator. In the early days, she gave his sketchbook, and encourage drawing tour. Sargent and nursing young in his paintings, he enthusiastically copied images from the Illustrated London News ship, and puts forward the detailed landscape sketch. William had hoped that his son's ship and maritime rights could lead him to a naval career.
At the age of thirteen, his mother reported that John "sketches quite well, with extremely fast and right eyes. If we have the ability to give him a really good lesson, he will soon be quite a little painter." At the age of thirteen, he received a number of watercolor painting lessons from Carle, German landscape painter. Although his education was far from complete, Sargent grew up to be a very educated and cosmopolitan young man, in art, music and literature. He speaks fluent French, Italian and german. At the age of seventeen, Sargent was described as "deliberate, confident, determined and strong" (his mother) also shy, generous, gentle (his father). He also met a lot of masters, from first hand observation, because he wrote in 1874, "I have been in Venice to appreciate the great Tintoretto, and that he may be behind Michelangelo and titian."
El Nino (Spanish Dancer), C racket. From 1879 to 1882, the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum in 1879, 23 year old Sargent portrait painting teacher Carolus Duran; performers strive to meet the public approval, and announced his mature work will take the direction. It shows that the salon in Paris is due both to his teacher and the portrait of the Commission ad. In early works, Sargent Henry James wrote, "the little artist with a" bizarre "spectacle, in the very threshold occupation career has no more understanding. "
Leave the Carolus Duran studio after Sargent's visit to spain. There, he studied painting Velazquez and passion, absorbing master technology, and gather in his journey to the idea for future work. He was fascinated with Spanish music and dance. This trip has rekindled his musical talent (which is almost equal to his artistic talent), and found that visual expression of El Nino racket in his early representative (1882). Music will continue to play an important part in his social life as well, as he is skilled in the accompaniment of amateur and professional musicians. Sargent became a modern composer, especially to advocate for Gabriel Faure. Italy Venice tourism street provides sketches and schools of thought, paintings, so as to effectively capture gestures and postures, he will find in later portraits is useful. In his return, Sargent soon received several portrait commissions. His career officially started. He proved at once that he was able to work as well as a worker with 25 years of concentration and endurance. He fills the gap between the Commission with friends and colleagues with a lot of non commissioned portraits. His gentle manners, perfect French, and superb skill made him a new portrait painter, and his fame spread rapidly. He confidently set high prices and refused to be dissatisfied with the nanny. He directed his friend Emil Fox who in the portrait in oil.