Porta della Carta, Venice, c.1913 Attributed to John Singer Sargent, (American, ) Oil on stretched linen canvas, unsigned, 21" x 14.

Transcription

1

2 Porta della Carta, Venice, c.1913 Attributed to John Singer Sargent, (American, ) Oil on stretched linen canvas, unsigned, 21" x 14.75" The painting and a contemporary photograph of the Porta della Carta of the Doge s Palace in Venice. John Singer Sargent visited and painted in Venice many times. While he is most known for his luminous watercolors of Venice, he also produced a number of oil paintings of the city. In 1913, he painted a view of the Courtyard of the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, which is now in the collection of the Harvard Art Museums. The painting which is the subject of this analysis is an oil painting of the Porta della Carta of the Doge s palace in Venice. It has striking similarities to Sargent s Courtyard of the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista. Sargent s Courtyard of the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista 1913, and a contemporary photograph of the location. While Sargent often cropped his landscapes and chose unusual points-of-view to accentuate height of buildings or depth in the picture plane, both of these paintings are fairly straight-on compositions. As can be seen in the photos above, the

3 courtyard painting is more detailed, but in both paintings the architecture has been softened and simplified. This aspect of the paintings also relates to Sargent s oil paintings from previous years. For this example, his 1879 oil painting Alhambra Patio is reproduced below, showing similar treatment of details to both of the paintings above. The method of painting and the style and shape of the brush strokes in all three paintings is very similar, showing a consistency which spans 34 years. All three paintings were created over a dark under-painting. All three are painted with consecutively heavier (thicker) paint, with the highlights being the heaviest. All three have subtle color variations in both the darks and the light areas. All three have a dominant use of dry-brush technique to create atmosphere and blur details. The paintings also show an impressionistic use of brush-bristle texture in the heavier painted large areas, which corresponds in each to the upper quarter of the painting: The sky and dome in Porta della Carta; The sky in Courtyard of the Scuola; The upper wall of Alhambra Patio. Several edge-details of each painting are also similar: The ragged edges of the main archways in Alhambra Patio and Porta della Carta; the abbreviated details shown in the bases of walls in Porta della Carta and Courtyard of the Scuola; the way, in each painting, that the artist avoided creating hard edges when painting light areas next to dark ones (There is usually a buffer area of a mid-value color or grey, not covered by the lightest paint, separating them.) Thickly painted skies can also be seen in Sargent s two c.1905 paintings of Moab and the Dead Sea. Details are reproduced below for comparison. R: Detail of Porta della Carta, Venice. L: Detail of Sargent s Courtyard of the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista Both details show that the artist worked from dark to light, painting the lighter walls and details on top of a dark underpainting. The subsequent lighter layers and highlights were added in thicker paint than the layers below. (Called working from thin to thick. )

4 L: Porta della Carta, Venice, detail of the base of a wall. R: Sargent s Courtyard of the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, detail of the base of a wall. Detail of Porta della Carta, Venice, showing ragged archway and dry-brushed, blurred details. R: Sargent s Alhambra Patio, detail of doorway.

5 Below L: Sargent s Alhambra Patio, Below R: Detail of dry-brushed architectural details, showing that the artist added lighter details over a dark background. L: Detail of textured brush work in upper portion of Porta della Carta, Venice. R: Detail of sky in Sargent s Courtyard of the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista

6 Below: Sargent s c.1905 oil painting The Dead Sea, and an enlarged detail of brush work. Sargent s 1905 oil painting The Mountains of Moab, and a detail of the sky. CONDITION and Observations: The materials used in Porta della Carta, Venice are consistent with those in use by artists in Europe in the early 20 th century. The linen canvas is tacked to a wide wooden stretcher, whose design was modern at the time, and a more expensive product than that used by most artists of the era. When acquired, the painting was in basically sound condition, with the exception of general grime, light stretcher marks, a medium-sized paint chip missing from the dome, and a smaller chip in the sky. It was unframed, and the tacking edges were taped with paper, as was the custom among better framers. The tape was brittle and sections had broken away, revealing that the painting extended to the front wrap edge. It appears that the painting was created on the stretcher. In 2015, the painting was cleaned, in-painted the entire front of the canvas was coated with a non-yellowing varnish. The paper wrapping tape was left on the sides, in areas where it was still adhering. There are light stretcher marks top and bottom. Photos below show the original condition of the canvas, front and back.

7 Original condition showing paint chip on dome; Verso showing stretcher and canvas discoloration from aged, migrating oils and previous cleaning fluid. Summary: Porta della Carta, Venice, is likely the creation of John Singer Sargent, (American, ), due to similarities in its composition, the application of paint, the use of color and its brush work, as compared to other paintings by Sargent. The estimated age of the materials places its creation c.1913, when Sargent was in Venice and painted Courtyard of the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, to which this painting has been compared, via photographs. Provenance: The Woodshed Gallery, Franklin, Massachusetts. Purchased from a vendor at Brimfield Flea Market, Massachusetts, Notes: The foregoing is the opinion of Bruce A. Wood, M.F.A., Massachusetts Auctioneer License #03251 This opinion does not imply any warranty or guarantee. William Janosco, M.F.A., Research Assistant Report date: March 3, 2016

8