Scene One: Dr. Love’s salon, 10 Vendome Place, Paris. A rainy May afternoon.

Offstage, Victor Hugo reads from his novel and Richard Wagner plays the piano.

Onstage, in a silk kimono Judith Gauthier arranges Japanese flowers. She is beautiful, mid thirties, full figure, large expressive eyes. She wears a silk kimono.

John Sargent rushes in under a dripping umbrella. Twenty-seven, he is handsome, robust in constitution, a good athlete, formally dressed.

JUDITH
Give me that umbrella.

JOHN
Whose house is this?

JUDITH
Sam Pozzi’s palace of creativity. We call him Dr. Love.

JUDITH
(Shakes his hand) Judith Gauthier.

JOHN
Daughter of the famed novelist?

JOHN AND JUDITH
Theophile.

JUDITH And nun of art.
(Laughs holding his hand))
None in the morning, none in the evening.

JOHN
John Singer Sargent. Student painter.

JUDITH
Rapidly ascending.

JOHN
Have you seen my teacher, Professor Duran?

JUDITH
No. You’re the rising star.

(Two men walk across. One studies sheet music, the other a book.)

JOHN
That’s not … Victor Hugo and Richard Wagner.

JUDITH
I launched their careers.

JOHN
Oh, no. You’re the critic who wrote that exposé about me--

JUDITH
And Madame Gatreau from New Orleans--

JOHN
“Ambitious Americans seize our medals and glory.” … My … well…

(John checks his pocket watch, peers out the rainy window.)

JUDITH
You’re here for a nomination--to the Salon?

JOHN
Yes . . .

JUDITH
Don’t count on Teach. He is a traditionalist--Your stuff is painted tomorrow.

(Doorbell rings.)

(Sargent paces as Claude Monet hurries in, drenched. Middle-aged and portly, he carries an artist’s portfolio, which he hides by the door.)

CLAUDE
Wicked out, rainy and cold.

JUDITH
Claude Monet. Let me introduce --

JOHN
We know each other.

JUDITH
(To Claude)
Your coat.

CLAUDE
(Hesitates, coughs. Gives Judith his wet coat.) It’s too hot with it on, and too cold with it off.

JUDITH (To Claude)
Brandy?

CLAUDE
God, yes.

JOHN
Coffee. I don’t want to be loosened up. I want to be tense.
(To Claude)
Where is Teach?

CLAUDE
Don’t you go to class?

JOHN
I try to go. I went to the door. Did you bring the letter?

(Monet coughs. Pounds his chest.)

(Music from The Ring Cycle echos offstage.)

JUDITH
Wagner. Playing catastrophically—

JOHN
You come in panting.

CLAUDE
Teach’s got a massive cold.

JUDITH
(Enters to Claude)
Brandy--
(To John)
Black coffee.

JOHN
So he left you the papers?

(Claude coughs and pounds his chest.)

CLAUDE
Teacher’s dog died.

JOHN
So he’s not coming?

JUDITH
Does he do this a lot?

CLAUDE
Some French artists have never been nominated.

JUDITH
And John’s from Philadelphia—

(Judith exits.)

CLAUDE
When I say we have to do something for John. Teach says, “Haven’t we done enough for him already!”

JOHN
I didn’t know I was out of favor.

CLAUDE
No one is in favor now. Adventurers are suspect!

JUDITH
(Poking her head in)
In a novel, you can go in and out with great blame, but you can’t do that in portraits.

JOHN
Artists, we’re no better than squirrels. Spend most of our day looking for food.

CLAUDE
Hold off a year. Live with me, paint landscapes--

JOHN
Unlike you, I’ve no government stipend--.

CLAUDE
Teach will endorse your portrait of Burkardt.

JOHN
In that birdcage dress— The woman looks like she’s been bitten by a brown recluse.

CLAUDE
Louise is social.

JUDITH
(Pokes her head in)
The school will get a commission.

JOHN
I shouldn’t have to consider financing Teach.

JUDITH
Let Teach know you admire him as much as he admires him.

CLAUDE
(Reads a paper)
Teach says: “If nominated, Sargent will have to organize the hanging and pay all assistants and costs. No commitment at the studio is implied. If the portrait sells, Teach will retain eighty per cent of fees.”

JOHN
This is black mail.

CLAUDE
Leverage. Teach has got to—

JOHN
Put his empire in place. Well, I won’t do that.

CLAUDE
You’ll have to deal with the repercussions.

JUDITH
More coffee? Brandy?

CLAUDE
My coat?
(To John)
Come to Giverny. Do landscapes.

JOHN
Portraits are what I do. Every cell in my body tells me that...

CLAUDE
Teach is returning this. Sorry.

(Claude gets portfolio from behind the door. Judith enters with his coat.)

(Claude tries to shake John’s hand, then exits. Judith crosses to John)

JUDITH
In art, acceptance is the exception. Rejection, the norm.

JOHN
Don’t dismiss it.

JUDITH
Teach has taken on the persona of genius without having done the work.

JOHN
Two hours of painting, thirty hours of eating and talking

JUDITH
Why insist on entering the Salon?

JOHN
Employment depends on repeated proof of ability. Good art sells, but good art marketed well sells better.

JUDITH
Your reputation doesn’t need bolstering.

JOHN
Wrong. The public must be reminded one striking performance isn’t luck.

JUDITH
Portraiture resists innovation. Most students collect around Teach harmlessly wanting a trade.

JOHN
I was more than Teach’s student. I was his apprentice. I painted his first official portrait for the salon when I was 21 . . .

JUDITH
You are wonderfully overqualified for the concours. Unlike Teach’s other students you are not weak on drawing. You can easily attract a public. You prefer anarchy like Delacroix. But the salon makes use of “Tradition.” It’s hard to paint in both directions.

JOHN
I don’t want to walk the fine line between chaos and control. Never complaining! Keep the gothic alive for some horrible mother’s dwarf-like teacher. As difficult as Teach is, I would rather have him alive in my life than dead.

JUDITH
Ambitions lie very young in the souls of people.

JOHN
I can’t believe I’m so committed to a teacher I hate.

JUDITH
People wondered why with all your credentials. You stand with that entry-level art school.

JOHN
And after a while I wondered too.

JUDITH
Your Teach is a dud, but don’t let that fool you he is one of the powers of Paris. He’s got Claude Monet running errands. Dr. Love receiving you –

JOHN
What should I do?

JUDITH
When you have no power you have to think and be clever.

(Sounds of crashing, crowds scream, soft crying.)

JOHN
Amelie Gautreau!

JUDITH
Getting out her carriage. She enters the best bedrooms of Paris.

JOHN
A professional beauty. She’s a lusciously beautiful 24-year-old who looks 14 --

JUDITH
Do her portrait; the world will open its doors!

JOHN
How do I meet her?

Scene Two: An anteroom to Dr. Love’s house. Amelie Gautreau 24, enters. Exquisite, she suggests a Greek statue, with an ample upturned bosom, narrow waist, long elegant neck, sculpted shoulders. Dr. Samuel Love greets her. Well built, early thirties, with dashing good looks, he wears a close fitting business suit. His dark hair contrasts with white skin.

AMELIE
Dr. Love! I had to see you.

DOCTOR
It couldn’t wait.

AMELIE
I keep forgetting I’m not your only flirtation.

DOCTOR
You’re the one that matters…

AMELIE
I’m 2 months pregnant.