Mountain Fire

John Singer Sargent

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Object Label

Although Mountain Fire presents an expansive Alpine view, Sargent’s attention to the enveloping effects of smoke and steam makes it one of his most abstracted watercolors. With this work he clearly offered a farewell nod to the British watercolor tradition as exemplified by Joseph Mallord William Turner’s Alpine subjects of a century before, in which deep perspectives were articulated with transparent washes. Sargent evoked dense haze and smoke by adding opaque white to his washes and by freely allowing the bleeding edges of wet washes to suggest vaporous effects.

Caption

John Singer Sargent American, born Italy, 1856–1925. Mountain Fire, ca. 1906–1907. Opaque and translucent watercolor, 14 1/16 x 20in. (35.7 x 50.8cm) frame: 23 7/8 x 29 13/16 x 1 3/8 in. (60.6 x 75.7 x 3.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased by Special Subscription, 09.831. No known copyright restrictions (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 09.831_PS6.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

American Art

Title

Mountain Fire

Date

ca. 1906–1907

Medium

Opaque and translucent watercolor

Classification

Watercolor

Dimensions

14 1/16 x 20in. (35.7 x 50.8cm) frame: 23 7/8 x 29 13/16 x 1 3/8 in. (60.6 x 75.7 x 3.5 cm)

Signatures

unsigned

Credit Line

Purchased by Special Subscription

Accession Number

09.831

Rights

No known copyright restrictions

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