Boboli Garden, Florence

About 1906–7, Sargent painted a series of watercolors at Boboli Gardens in Florence. The spectacular gardens surrounding the Pitti Palace were designed in the mid-sixteenth century for the Medici court. Sargent’s depiction of a sculpture by Giovanni Battista Caccini (1556–1613) of a figure playing a pipe, set against lush foliage, is a study of contrasting light and shadow that demonstrates the range of Sargent’s technique. He employs layers of dark pigments of varying opacity to suggest depth and shadow in the background, and renders the sunlight filtering through the branches with pale-hued opaque pigments. He depicts the pietra serena (a light-colored Tuscan limestone) of the statue with warm tones applied in transparent washes, and uses blank areas of paper to create the brightest highlights.