Though she is not on view at the Met right now, La Carmencita, another enchanting flamenca from John Singer Sargent in 1890, sits in a postcard on my desk, daring me each morning to greet the day with fiery resolve. In my view she is infinitely more elegant and compelling than most on the red carpet last night

The Met says Sargent may have encountered her at the 1899 Expo in Paris, which was so important to art and to engineering. He apparently was utterly captivated and called her a "bewildering superb creature". She came to NY the following year and 'took New York by storm’".

She was a 'restless and demanding sitter' which makes sense: flamenco dancers are happiest when they are dancing a solea or buleria. He made many studies of her dancing, but then opted to portray her in a stationary pose.

It seems that critics were divided-how dare he represent "a common music hall performer in such a monumental way."

Though her face is rendered quite white, she is not as blanched as Madame X, who was to come a few years later, but her arrogant, frontal look is more daring than Madame X’s who although was upper class and dressed more revealingly is turned away from the artist as if to hedge his, and her, bets.