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Details / Information for The Patio

The Patio

1908

John Singer Sargent

(American, born Italy, 1856–1925)
Culture
America, late 19th-early 20th Century
Medium
watercolor with traces of gouache over graphite
Support
Cream(1) wove paper
Measurements
Sheet: 53.2 x 34.6 cm (20 15/16 x 13 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
In memory of Ralph King, gift of Mrs. Ralph King; Ralph T. Woods, Charles G. King; and Frances King Schafer 1946.293
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Sargent was born in Italy, studied in France, and worked chiefly in England, but he never renounced his American citizenship. As a young man, Sargent achieved fame and wealth as a portraitist, but he gradually tired of painting wealthy, superficial aristocrats. In his later years he focused increasingly on watercolor. Along with Winslow Homer, Sargent was the major artist to develop a spontaneous approach toward watercolor. Rather than carefully layering his pigments, he dashed off his paintings in a single sitting, allowing the colors to freely blend together.
A vertically oriented watercolor painting with visible brushstrokes depicts a sunlit courtyard. In the lower left foreground, a cluster of green daubs with white highlights forms a dense bush. Behind it, a sturdy white column rises toward a dark beam. To the right, a large, translucent figure rendered in pale, hazy washes faces left. Sunlight streaks from the top left, casting warm tan and brown shadows across the architecture and stone floor.

The Patio

1908

John Singer Sargent

(American, born Italy, 1856–1925)
America, late 19th-early 20th Century

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