Bright and shadowed, loud and still - Sargent's paintings of water

Sargent could paint anything. And everything. And he did. A lot.

Alpine Pool, 1907.

  Fountain, Villa Torlonia, 1907.

Backwater at Calcot Near Reading, 1888.

Scuola di San Rocco, Venice, circa 1903.

Yoho Falls, 1916.

Jerusalem, circa 1905-1906.

A Torrent in Norway, circa 1901.

Villa Torlonia, Frascati, 1907.

Stream in the Val d'Aosta, circa 1909.

Rio dell'Angelo [Raffaele], Venice, 1902.

Fountain, Villa de Marlia, 1910.

Lake in the Tyrol. Date unknown.

Spanish Fountain, after 1902.

Spanish Fountain, 1912.

A Backwater at Wargrave, 1887.

 Boat in the Waters off Capri, circa 1878.

Fountain, Villa Torlonia, 1907.

In the Tyrol, 1904.

The Shadowed Stream, circa 1883-85.

Palazzo Grimani, Venice, 1907.

San Vigilio, Lago di Garda, circa 1913.

A Backwater, Calcot Mill near Reading, 1888.

 Brook among Rocks, circa 1906-08.

Pool in the Garden of La Granja, 1912.

Oranges at Corfu, circa 1909

In a Levantine Port, circa 1905-06.

Fountain, Villa Torlonia, 1907.

Finally, figures. Bathers, 1917. The models were apparently workers at the Vizcaya estate of James Deering, a great friend of Sargent's. Vizcaya,
today a historic house and garden museum located on Biscayne Bay in Miami, was built primarily between 1914 and 1922; the "stone
barge" breakwater and the arched bridge connecting the garden terrace to the landing stage can be seen in the background.

I love this watercolor sketch; the sense of touch is particularly evoked here: the fine, submerged sand, the warm bay water, the gentle breeze.