Villa di Marlia, Lucca: A Fountain John Singer Sargent (American, 1856–1925) 1910 Translucent watercolor and touches of opaque watercolor and wax resist with graphite underdrawing 157⁄8 x 207⁄8 in. (40.4 × 53.1 cm). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
In his seemingly incidental, snapshotlike views of the Villa Marlia pool garden, Sargent celebrated mossy balusters and potted lemon trees more than the imposing fountains of the river gods Arno and Serchio. At least one photograph taken by Sargent at Marlia suggests that he may have employed photography to test or record his compositions. He began the Marlia watercolors by defining the sculptural foreground elements with loosely sketched layers of contrasting colors. He then roughed in the backdrops of dense greenery to throw the glare-struck forms into even stronger relief.
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