On some occasions Sargent, tired of high society portraits, experimented with a new type of painting in his repertory, marked by freer brushwork and popular subject matter, as this onion seller shows, which he painted during a stay in Venice. It is not at all picturesque, and the influence of Velázquez is all too obvious.
Unfortunately this type of work was not well received by thy public and Sargent continued to paint the high society of his time.
