John Singer Sargent was at the height of his powers when he painted this portrait of Peter Chardon Brooks III in 1890. Brooks had inherited part of the fortune of his grandfather, the Boston merchant and philanthropist Peter Chardon Brooks, and put his money to work developing Chicago real estate. In 1881, he commissioned architects Burnham & Root to design the Montauk Block, Chicago's first skyscraper. When the firm completed the taller Monadnock Building for him in 1891, it was the largest office building in the world.

The marriage of Peter Chardon Brooks III to Sarah Lawrence, the daughter of Amos Adams Lawrence, united two families long settled in New England. The marriage of their daughter, Eleanor Brooks, to Richard Middlecott Saltonstall connected the Lawrence, Brooks, and Saltonstall families—all represented in large collections of personal papers, photographs, and portraits held by the HIstorical Society.

Gift of Mrs. Levin H. Campbell and George Lewis, 2004.