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Aranjuez

John Singer Sargent

American Art

This work was one of the first watercolors in which Sargent began to explore the interplay of carefully framed stone garden features and the ambient effects of their green settings. He found his subject in the Jardín de la Isla at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, near Madrid, one of several old and neglected formal gardens that charmed him during visits to Portugal and Spain in 1902 and 1903. He characteristically bypassed the grander aspects of the setting to feature this small fountain and dissolved the form of the crowning sculpture of Triptolemus, a mythological figure, in watery touches of shadow.
MEDIUM Translucent and opaque watercolor and graphite, with graphite underdrawing
DATES ca. 1903
DIMENSIONS 10 x 14 1/16 in. (25.4 x 35.7 cm) frame: 17 7/8 x 23 7/8 x 1 3/8 in. (45.4 x 60.6 x 3.5 cm)  (show scale)
SIGNATURE Unsigned.
COLLECTIONS American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 09.809
CREDIT LINE Purchased by Special Subscription
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION John Singer Sargent (American, born Italy, 1856–1925). Aranjuez, ca. 1903. Translucent and opaque watercolor and graphite, with graphite underdrawing, 10 x 14 1/16 in. (25.4 x 35.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased by Special Subscription, 09.809 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 09.809_PS6.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 09.809_PS6.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2012
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