Souvenir of Seville

1905

Charles Conder

(British, 1868–1909)

Culture

England, 20th century

Medium

watercolor, gouache, and shell gold with graphite on silk

Measurements

Fabric: 20.3 x 39.7 cm (8 x 15 5/8 in.)

Credit Line

In memory of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph King 1962.398

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Charles Conder exhibited his first fan design in 1893 and created a significant number of similar works over the following 15 years.

Description

As famous for his watercolors on silk as he was for his self-destructive lifestyle, Charles Conder belonged to a generation that the poet W. B. Yeats called "the last Romantics." His delicately tinted watercolors seem like fragments of a lost era, conjuring an imaginary world of beauty, leisure, and luxury. This painted fan was made on a trip to Spain that Conder took with his wife, Stella Maris, to witness the celebration and pageantry of Holy Week and Easter. Its bold color and dynamic composition memorialized a period of health and happiness spent in the Mediterranean.