Boboli

Sargent found this subject in the vast and multifeatured Boboli Gardens, adjacent to the Pitti Palace in Florence. More precisely, he found the sculpture of Igea (an allegory of health) along the steep cypress avenue known as Il Viottolone, planted in 1612 and embellished at regular intervals with classical and Renaissance statuary. Ignoring the dramatic sweep of the avenue down to the sunlit Piazzale dell’Isolotto (Island Pond), Sargent focused on this unassuming sculpture swept by a full-spectrum shower of tinted reflections and shadows. Today the spot remains unchanged, including the cypress trunk that Sargent described with a purple wash.