In 1888, Millet painted an evocative portrait of the young Sadie Waters.  The daughter of a wealthy industrialist, she was also an up and coming artist in her own right.

Ms. Humphreys, documents the tragic life of Ms. Waters “As one of just two American women recognized in the 1890s as trained in the technique of illumination, Sadie was arguably on her way to becoming one of the stars of the early twentieth-century art world.”  “Her miniature portraits and illuminated, religious-themed paintings exhibited in Brussels, Paris, Ghent, London, New York, and in her hometown of St. Louis. Young, wealthy and talented, she was the subject of paintings by important American artists Francis Davis Millet and Julius Rolshoven.”  Ms. Humphreys speculates that not only was Sadie a model for her own portrait by Millet, but that she may have been the model for a few other well known works by Millet, such as “Wondering Thoughts.”

Thesis Article:  Sadie Waters _The_Mystery_of_Sadie_Waters_Miniatures_Millet portrait of Sadie article