Matterhorn from Zmutt Glacier, Zermatt 2
1870
Most people know John Singer Sargent for his glamorous society portraits, but here he is as a teenager—around 14 years old!—sketching the rugged Alps. This loose watercolor captures the Matterhorn looming ghost-like through the mist, using confident washes of blue and purple to make the mountain feel vast and distant. You can see the scratchy pencil lines underneath, showing how quickly he worked to catch the changing light on the Zmutt Glacier before the weather shifted. It’s a refreshing glimpse of the artist as a young traveler, obsessed with capturing raw nature rather than high society fashion.
- Technique
- Watercolor and graphite
- Material
- Paper
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