Now, what you can see in these three, the wood is convincing enough that we know it is wood. But in none of these three, including the very detailed Bouguereau, did the artist paint every line of wood grain. (Please do not think this is in anyway a suggestion that I am equal to either of the other two artists!) In painting wood grain keep in mind the distance you are viewing the subject and how much detail you can actually see at that distance. In Sargent's painting it is a full-length portrait; obvoiusly you would have to be standing some distance back from the woman and the table to see all of her from head to foot, so you would not see every line of wood grain. Obviously you would not need to paint it.
In the Bouguereau, you may be somewhat closer but you still are not inches from the chair leg. And in my own painting I indicated just enough to show some texture of the grain by painting a few of the major lines of the grain. And in all three, the figure and not the wood is the area of focus. Your eye is not going to be focused on the surface of the wood and all the detail there, so why would you paint it?
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