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Venetian Water Carriers
Venetian Water Carriers
Image © Worcester Art Museum, all rights reserved.

Venetian Water Carriers

Artist (American, 1856–1925)
Date1880–1882
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionscanvas: 64.5 × 70.6 cm (25 3/8 × 27 13/16 in.)
framed: 86.4 × 92.7 × 8.9 cm (34 × 36 1/2 × 3 1/2 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineMuseum purchase through the Sustaining Membership Fund
Object number1911.30
Label TextLike Whistler and Cassatt, Sargent spent much of his career working in Europe. Sargent was born in Florence, trained in Paris, and split his career between Paris and London. Between 1880 and 1882, he made two extended visits to Venice, where he painted several small oil paintings. While he had made a name for himself with his sought-after society portraits, the subjects of these works were largely scenes of everyday life among the humbler segments of society. Rather than depict the city’s iconic architecture, he chose instead to concentrate on the atmospheric back streets and quiet piazzas dotted with water wells.ProvenanceThe artist; Friedrich Bechstein, around 1886-1895?; sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 1895?; Frederick Crane, until 1910?; acquired by William Macbeth, June 6, 1911; sold to Worcester Art Museum, October 20, 1911
On View
Not on view
Katharine Chase Pratt
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1890
Oranges at Corfu
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Mrs. Alexander H. Bullock
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Lady Warwick and Her Son
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1906
The Venetian Blind
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1898
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John Brewster Jr.
1800s