Ada Rehan
John Singer Sargent
1894–95 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing
Born Delia Crehan in Limerick, Ireland, Ada Rehan (1860–1916) moved to America as a child and began performing on stage when she was sixteen years old. An error on a theater bill rendered her name Ada C. Rehan (instead of Crehan), and the name stuck. In 1879, she joined Augustin Daly’s theater company, and became internationally renowned for playing in Shakespeare’s comedies and other plays. In this portrait, which was commissioned by an American admirer, Sargent accentuates the actor’s imposing stage presence, though she is not in character. Sargent elevates her status by showing her in the grand manner and scale typical of paintings of royalty or aristocracy.
- Artist
- John Singer Sargent
- Date
- 1894–95
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Culture
- American
- Department
- The American Wing
- Credit line
- Bequest of Catharine Lasell Whitin, in memory of Ada Rehan, 1940
