El Ghor AC 1955.314
John Singer Sargent, American, 1856-1925
Watercolor, gouache on paper, 1905-1906
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Best known for his portraits and murals, Sargent was also an accomplished watercolorist. He traveled extensively in the early years of the twentieth century, and spent the summer of 1905 traveling throughout the Middle East. There he researched biblical imagery for his murals in the Boston Public Library, and made excursions into the desert to paint scenes of the Dead Sea and the plains of Esdraelon. This watercolor depicts a view of the Lower Jordan Valley located on border of Jordan and Israel, just north of the Dead Sea.
The short, spontaneous watercolor brushstrokes in the foreground suggest a rocky outcropping, and contrast with the more robust brushstrokes in the background. There, Sargent layered gouache, a type of opaque watercolor, to create the sky. By painting the gouache over the watercolor in some areas—at the horizon line and in the sky—the artist added weight to those passages, and created depth and variation in the textures.
