Gondola Moorings on the Grand Canal

1904/1907

John Singer Sargent

Associated Names
John Singer Sargent

Artist, American, 1856 - 1925

This painting shows a view along a blue canal with buildings lining the waterway. To the left of center is the curved end of a boat or gondola, suggesting that we are sitting in the boat. Beyond that, another boat is visible floating in the water. There are tall brown and blue poles to the left, spaced out along the canal. On the right, more poles stand in the water in front of steps leading up to a pale-yellow building with an arched doorway and a balcony hanging above. More buildings continue in a diagonal line, from the bottom right side to the center of the painting, where they turn into a horizontal line with a white bridge crossing the canal. The buildings are in shades of tan, light yellow, cream, pale blue, and light coral, many of them featuring balconies. The sky above the buildings is a clear, light blue, and the water of the canal reflects that. The brushstrokes in the painting are loose and fluid, and the colors overlap and blend.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    watercolor over graphite on thick wove paper

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 40.6 × 45.5 cm (16 × 17 15/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1970.17.171

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Ormand/Kilmurray 1127

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

purchased in 1909 from the artists by the Brooklyn Museum; (M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1926); Wadsworth R. Lewis, New York, 1926; (M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1930); acquired by Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969]; bequest to National Gallery of Art

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2005

  • Moving Pictures: The Un-Easy Relationship between American Art and Early Film, 1890-1910, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, 2005.

  • Moving Pictures: American Art and Early Film, 1880-1910, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, 2005 - 2007, unnumbered catalogue.

2006

  • The Poetry of Light: Venetian Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2006, repro. p. 27.

2014

  • The Poetry of Light - La poesia della luce: Venetian Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, Museo Correr, Venice, Venice, 2014 - 2015, no. 140.

Bibliography

1997

  • Adelson, Warren, et. al. Sargent Abroad: Figures and Landscapes. New York, London, Paris, 1997: 33, 3
    5, no. 21.

1998

  • Little, Carl. The Watercolors of John Singer Sargent. Berkeley, 1998: repro. 43.

  • Ormond, Richard, and Elaine Kilmurray. John Singer Sargent: Venetian Figures and Landscapes, 1893-1913. The Complete Paintings, Volume VI. New Haven and London, 2009: 180-181, 245, no. 1127.

2005

  • Mathews, Nancy Mowll., et al. Moving Pictures; American Art and Early Film, 1880-1910. Exh. cat. Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown; Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem; Grey Art Gallery & Study Center, New York University; The Phillips Collection, Washington; 2005-2007. Manchester, 2005: 63, fig. 79.

Watermarks

J. Whatman 1897

Wikidata ID

Q64583990

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