Jerusalem (View of a Building and a Colonnaded Arcade at the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem)

This watercolour was executed during the artist’s fourth journey to the Middle East and North Africa, and his first to the Holy Land, undertaken in November 1905. An ambitious itinerary took Sargent across the region, including Baalbek in Lebanon, Lake Tiberias and the Jordan Valley, Jaffa, Nazareth and Jerusalem. The journey was prompted by Sargent’s desire to find ‘new fuel for his decorative work’ (E. Charteris, John Sargent, London, 1927, p. 172), specifically for his mural cycle The Triumph of Religion for the Boston Public Library. He hoped that the journey would provide him with authentic views of the landscapes and peoples of the Holy Land, which he could subsequently incorporate into his murals.

The present watercolour depicts the more easterly of the two ceremonial staircases leading to the pillared arcade at the northern end of the Haram al-Sharif (the Sacred Mount) in Jerusalem. Sargent painted a near-identical view in oil (see R. Ormond and E. Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: Figures and Landscapes, 1900–1907, The Complete Paintings, New Haven, 2012, VII, p. 149, no. 1274). The oil was given to one of Sargent’s sisters, Violet Ormond (née Sargent), while the present watercolour was given to his other sister, Emily Sargent. It may subsequently have passed from her to a friend or acquaintance, before appearing on the London art market in 1987.