Madame Eugenia Errazuriz née Eufenia Huic (1858-1951) was born into a wealthy silver-mining family in Chile and married painter José Tomás Errazuriz in 1880. José was the brother of Ramon Subercaseaux who was the Chilean consul to Paris. Sargent had painted Madame Subercaseaux in 1880. The newlyweds (Madame Errazuriz and her husband) moved to Europe. In the autumn of that year they met Sargent when they were visiting Venice, possibly on their honeymoon, and seeing José's brother who had taken a studio with Sargent at the Palazzo Rezzonico (see Emily's letter). They settled in Paris where they became friends with many in the the same circle: the American heiress Winnareta Singer, the French composer Gabriel Fauré, French painters Joseph Roger-Jourdain, Ernest Duez, and Paul Helleu; and the Italian artist Giovanni Boldini.
In later years they moved to London where she and her husband would eventually split.
She was an avid supporter of the arts. Was friends with noted writers and musicians such as W.R. Sickert, Baron de Meyer, Diaghilev, Stravinsky, Jean Cocteau and Cecil Beaton.
Sargent became very fond of Madame Errazuriz and would paint her a number of times. Besides Sargent, she was also painted by Jacques-Emile Blanche (French painter 1861-1942), Giovanni Boldini, Paul Helleu, Augustus John, and Pablo Picasso.
Picasso's Portrait de Mlle Eugenia Errazuriz.
(off site)
Sargent's Women, Adelson Galleries, New York, 2003