Santa Maria della Salute
1904
John Singer Sargent
American, born Italy, 1856-1925
American Art
Sargent’s underdrawing for the church is meticulously executed in straight ruled graphite lines, whose end points are visible at the bottoms and tops of columns. Horizontal ruled lines of the stairs are visible through the washes of the figures in the boat. In contrast, the boats and figures in the foreground have minimal underdrawing and are rendered in loose, mostly wet washes. Sargent used a sharp tool to scrape off paint and create the squiggly highlights on and around the boats. This is the largest Sargent watercolor in Brooklyn’s collection and the only one both signed and dated by the artist.
- Maker/Artist
- Sargent, John Singer
- Classification
- Watercolor
- Formatted Medium
- Translucent and opaque watercolor and graphite, with graphite underdrawing
- Medium
- translucent, opaque, watercolor, graphite, underdrawing
- Dimensions
- 18 3/16 x 22 15/16in. (46.2 x 58.3cm) frame: 33 7/8 x 38 11/16 x 1 3/4 in. (86 x 98.3 x 4.4 cm)
- Departments
- American Art
- Accession Number
- 09.838
- Credit Line
- Purchased by Special Subscription
- Exhibitions
- John Singer Sargent Watercolors, Realm of Marvels: Building Collections for the Future, Masters of Color and Light: Homer, Sargent and the American Watercolor Movement, Curator's Choice: American Watercolor Masters: Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent
- Rights Statement
- No known copyright restrictions
- Museum Location
- This item is not on view
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