Lot Essay
Throughout his extensive travels across Europe and the north of Africa, John Singer Sargent executed numerous watercolors en plein air. Many of these works, such as The Jetty at San Vigilio, exhibit virtuoso brushwork and luminous color, qualities which have come to define his finest work in the medium.
In the early autumn of 1913, Sargent traveled with friends to San Vigilio, near Lake Garda in northern Italy, where he painted a number of oils and watercolors, among them The Jetty at San Vigilio. During this period, painting in watercolor came to represent a kind of artistic freedom for Sargent. Removed from the constraints of repeated sittings required for producing formal portraits in his studio, Sargent was free to pursue the unusual and innovative subject matter that attracted him. During his travels--which took him far away from the demands of his portrait patrons--Sargent could paint however and whatever suited him. The watercolors of this period, such as The Jetty at San Vigilio, reveal Sargent as a true and freely inspired painter, luxuriating in the brilliant effects of light, color and the spontaneity of the watercolor medium.
The late Daniel McKibbin, Sargent scholar and art librarian at the Boston Atheneaum, recorded that "Late in September, 1913, Sargent, his sister Emily, and a party of friends which included Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred de Glehn and Miss Eliza Wedgwood engaged all but two rooms in a little inn at San Vigilio on Lake Garda in northern Italy. Miss Wedgwood, in an unpublished diary written to assist Sir Evan Charteris in the preparation of his monograph on Sargent, recalled, 'A little rought stone pier was at our very door, where John used, as was his custom, painting, to stand quite a long way from his easel and move back and forth.' The door of the inn is visible in the center background in this watercolor. This work and six other watercolors made at the same time at San Vigilio were shown in the Royal Academy Memorial Exhibition in 1926."
In The Jetty at San Vigilio, Sargent first delineated lightly in pencil the broadest areas of form, namely the rocks in the foreground and the boat in the distance. He then filled the foreground with carefully modulated washes in greens and umbers to suggest light and shade along the surfaces and jagged edges of the rocks. (Sargent's lifelong preoccupation with rocks--whether in the Rockies or the Alps, in the quarries of Carrara or on the coast of Maine--is manifest in the present watercolor, as the artist's love of stone is revealed in his attention to the shapes and arrangements of these sunbaked, rough-hewn rocks.) Areas of the paper were kept in reserve without pigment to indicate the passages of highest value, where the brilliant Italian light reflected off the flat paving stones along the edge of the quay. Sargent has used great economy of means to suggest the characteristics of the buildings and dense greenery in the distance. Overall the composition is unified by a subtle palette of muted greens and browns, all of which is enlivened by touches of rich, rust-colored red. These color combinations create a shimmering surface of light, color, and brushwork that is the hallmark of Sargent's finest watercolors.
This work will be included in the forthcoming John Singer Sargent catalogue raisonné by Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, in collaboration with Warren Adelson and Elizabeth Oustinoff.
In the early autumn of 1913, Sargent traveled with friends to San Vigilio, near Lake Garda in northern Italy, where he painted a number of oils and watercolors, among them The Jetty at San Vigilio. During this period, painting in watercolor came to represent a kind of artistic freedom for Sargent. Removed from the constraints of repeated sittings required for producing formal portraits in his studio, Sargent was free to pursue the unusual and innovative subject matter that attracted him. During his travels--which took him far away from the demands of his portrait patrons--Sargent could paint however and whatever suited him. The watercolors of this period, such as The Jetty at San Vigilio, reveal Sargent as a true and freely inspired painter, luxuriating in the brilliant effects of light, color and the spontaneity of the watercolor medium.
The late Daniel McKibbin, Sargent scholar and art librarian at the Boston Atheneaum, recorded that "Late in September, 1913, Sargent, his sister Emily, and a party of friends which included Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred de Glehn and Miss Eliza Wedgwood engaged all but two rooms in a little inn at San Vigilio on Lake Garda in northern Italy. Miss Wedgwood, in an unpublished diary written to assist Sir Evan Charteris in the preparation of his monograph on Sargent, recalled, 'A little rought stone pier was at our very door, where John used, as was his custom, painting, to stand quite a long way from his easel and move back and forth.' The door of the inn is visible in the center background in this watercolor. This work and six other watercolors made at the same time at San Vigilio were shown in the Royal Academy Memorial Exhibition in 1926."
In The Jetty at San Vigilio, Sargent first delineated lightly in pencil the broadest areas of form, namely the rocks in the foreground and the boat in the distance. He then filled the foreground with carefully modulated washes in greens and umbers to suggest light and shade along the surfaces and jagged edges of the rocks. (Sargent's lifelong preoccupation with rocks--whether in the Rockies or the Alps, in the quarries of Carrara or on the coast of Maine--is manifest in the present watercolor, as the artist's love of stone is revealed in his attention to the shapes and arrangements of these sunbaked, rough-hewn rocks.) Areas of the paper were kept in reserve without pigment to indicate the passages of highest value, where the brilliant Italian light reflected off the flat paving stones along the edge of the quay. Sargent has used great economy of means to suggest the characteristics of the buildings and dense greenery in the distance. Overall the composition is unified by a subtle palette of muted greens and browns, all of which is enlivened by touches of rich, rust-colored red. These color combinations create a shimmering surface of light, color, and brushwork that is the hallmark of Sargent's finest watercolors.
This work will be included in the forthcoming John Singer Sargent catalogue raisonné by Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, in collaboration with Warren Adelson and Elizabeth Oustinoff.