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A Note (The Libreria, Venice)
Not on view
By the year 1900, Sargent was considered the most fashionable and skillful portrait painter on either side of the Atlantic. However, the unending stream of wealthy clients who came to his London studio to commission portraits began to wear down his creative energy and tax his patience. Sargent increasingly traveled abroad at this time to escape the monotony of portraiture and freed him to explore diverse subject matter. Like many artists before him, he found in Venice a bountiful source of creative inspiration that was to nurture him throughout his career. In this watercolor he has employed a low viewpoint, restrained color, fragmentation of the monument by radical cropping, by deft application of washes to produce a vision of stunning originality. Interestingly, Sargent rethought the composition and drew a line at the base of the visible molding with the notation "cut off." It is fortunate that his instructions were not carried out and that our work survives as a graphic illustration of Sargent's working method of cropping his compositions. Sargent had explored the technique of watercolor as a student, but it was not until 1887 that his interest in the medium was reawakened, possibly through meeting the English artist Hercules Brabazon Brabazon (1821-1906), whose views of Venice where renowned (see two examples in our collection 1979.2.15 and 2005.35.31). The present work was drawn between 1902, when the Campanile of San Marco fell, and 1908 when it would have been rebuilt enough to appear above the balustrade in the background. (F.R.)
- Artist
- John Singer Sargent
- Title
- A Note (The Libreria, Venice)
- Date
- 1902-1908
- Object Type
- Drawing
- Medium
- Watercolor and graphite on wove paper
- Dimensions
- 14 x 20 1/16 in. (35.6 x 51 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. George Hopper Fitch
- Accession Number
- 1976.2.21