Art critic Waldemar Januszczak profiles Walter Sickert and John Singer Sargent, two giants of Edwardian painting who could not have been more different. Sickert lived in dingy Camden Town, consorted with thieves and prostitutes and was suspected of being Jack the Ripper, whereas Sargent lived in Chelsea, hobnobbed with dukes and counts and only painted the rich and famous. Between them, they summed up the schizophrenic character of their age, but who was the better artist?

Art critic Waldemar Januszczak profiles Walter Sickert and John Singer Sargent, two giants of Edwardian painting who could not have been more different. Sickert lived in dingy Camden Town, consorted with thieves and prostitutes and was suspected of being Jack the Ripper, whereas Sargent lived in Chelsea, hobnobbed with dukes and counts and only painted the rich and famous. Between them, they summed up the schizophrenic character of their age, but who was the better artist?