Sortie de l’église, Campo San Canciano, Venice, 1882 (oil on canvas)
Collection of Marie and Hugh Halff, Jr.
This dates from one of Sargent’s first visits to Venice. The painting shows a group of figures in Campo San Canciano, in the area between SS Apostoli and Santa Maria dei Miracoli, where the sottoportico and the wellhead are depicted very much as one still sees them today. The Venetian figures are part of the group of Venetian models which Sargent would use in his various visits to the city.

The Sulphur Match, 1882 (oil on canvas)
Collection of Marie and Hugh Halff, Jr.
This is unique amongst the artist’s Venetian paintings.
Small in size and narrative in content, it evokes the atmosphere of a tavern. The painting shows a seated young woman leaning back against a wall as she looks flirtatiously at the young man lighting a cigarette. In the scene one can also see a bottle of wine and, in the lower left-hand corner, a broken glass. One of the few Venetian paintings to be dated, this is modern both in the relaxed pose of the figures and the atmosphere of calm intimacy. The title refers to the lit match held by the male figure.

Gondolas off San Giorgio Maggiore, ca. 1902-03 (watercolour on paper)
Private collection
This is one of the over twenty works which depict water traffic and fishing boats. Fascinated by ships and the sea since an early age, the artist would depict such subjects from the very start of his career. There are many works of marine subjects that date from the 1880s and 1890s, and Sargent’s interest in this theme would re-emerge in the 1900s. The artist was clearly intrigued here by the compositions formed of wooden crafts, masts and projecting spars caught between sky and choppy water; even though such works are rendered in large flowing brushstrokes, they capture details accurately. The church of San Giorgio Maggiore emerges in the background from the mist in a suffused glow, like a color note by the British artist, J.M.W. Turner.

Gondoliers’ Siesta, 1904 (watercolour on paper)
Private collection
This view of the Grand Canal is taken from a gondola at rest a short distance from Palazzo Contarini delle Figure. The atmosphere is of a certain intimacy ;and the rich, saturated color, applied in loose wet washes, enhances the mood of languid afternoon repose.

On the Steps of the Salute, ca. 1904 (watercolour on paper over preliminary pencil)
Private collection
Sargent did numerous view of the Basilica della Salute on the Grand Canal: twelve watercolours and three oils. Viewing the scene from his gondola, the artist seems never to have tired of the play of light and colour upon the baroque façade. This is probably one of the finest watercolours Sargent painted in Venice

Corner of the Church of San Stae, ca. 1913 (oil on canvas)
Private collection
The eighteenth-century church of San Stae stands on the Grand Canal and is flanked by the small building of the Guild of Goldsmiths. Sargent here uses a very unusual vantage point for his picture: a boat tied up on the San Stae canal that runs perpendicular to the Grand Canal. As a result, his painting catches the morning light falling across the marble surfaces and columns of the church facade seen in juxtaposition with the compact red of the guild building.