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The Fountain, Villa Torlonia, Frascati, Italy

Portrait of a woman in white with a bonnet perched on an architectural feature painting something to her right, a spouting water fountain, greenery, and a an ornate, low white fence behind her. Beside her, a man leans back, eying the canvas.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Portrait of a woman in white with a bonnet perched on an architectural feature painting something to her right, a spouting water fountain, greenery, and a an ornate, low white fence behind her. Beside her, a man leans back, eying the canvas.

Date:

1907

Artist:

John Singer Sargent (American, 1856–1925)

About this artwork

The year 1907 was a turning point for John Singer Sargent, as he daringly stepped away from his successful career as a portraitist in favor of plein air painting. This strong and lively work aptly captures that moment of transition, combining landscape and portraiture in a composition that speaks to friendship and painterly pursuits while also celebrating color, surface, and fleeting effects of light and movement. The couple is Wilfrid and Jane Emmet de Glehn, professional artists and Sargent’s frequent traveling companions. Although The Fountain has the appearance of spontaneity, Sargent was frequently interrupted by rain as he worked. He thus completed it over several days, requiring his friends to pose at length.

Status

On View, Gallery 273

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

John Singer Sargent

Title

The Fountain, Villa Torlonia, Frascati, Italy

Place

Frascati (Place depicted)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1907

Medium

Oil on canvas

Inscriptions

Signed, lower left: "John S. Sargent"

Dimensions

71.4 × 56.5 cm (28 1/8 × 22 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Friends of American Art Collection

Reference Number

1914.57

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/69780/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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