Elegant Edwardian paintings of lovely women by those supreme talents, John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini

Mlle Laure, Boldini 1910 

I'm confined to quarters with a cold. I sat down to write something political, but after twenty minutes of coughing and spluttering and snottering, you'll be relieved to hear I abandoned my original plan and sick of Kleenex and Lemsip, and feeling in need of an injection of gaiety and elegance, decided instead to post some gorgeous portraits by my two favourite late Victorian/Edwardian portraitists - the American, John Singer Sargent, who became England's leading society portraitist, and the Italian, Giovanni Boldini, who plied his trade in Florence and London before moving to Paris in 1872 to become Singer's equivalent there.

Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, Sargent 1882

Portrait of Princess Marthe-Lucile Bibesco, Boldini 1911

Portrait of the Marchesa Luisa Casati, Boldini 1908

Sybil Frances Grey, Sargent 1905

Portrait of Alice Regnault, Boldini 1880

Portrait of Nancy Astor, Sargent 1909

Madam Juillard in Red, Boldini 1911

El Jaleo, Sargent 1882