Aranjuez

ca. 1903

This work was one of the first watercolors in which Sargent began to explore the interplay of carefully framed stone garden features and the ambient effects of their green settings. He found his subject in the Jardín de la Isla at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, near Madrid, one of several old and neglected formal gardens that charmed him during visits to Portugal and Spain in 1902 and 1903. He characteristically bypassed the grander aspects of the setting to feature this small fountain and dissolved the form of the crowning sculpture of Triptolemus, a mythological figure, in watery touches of shadow.