A Street In Venice (c. 1880–82)

A remarkably narrow alleyway, flanked by old, peeling stucco walls.
A woman in a black shawl steps over the threshold of a wine cellar, glaring sharply in our direction.

When one hears of Venetian landscape paintings, most people envision glamorous scenes.
The beautiful Grand Canal.
Magnificent palaces and elegant gondolas gliding by.
Critics in Paris at the time also expected such a romanticized image of a tourist city.
Furthermore, in the art market, when Sargent's 'A Street in Venice' is mentioned, many people recall the horizontal painting housed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
That one is a masterpiece depicting a woman walking away briskly and a man staring at her unabashedly.

But in fact, two paintings with the same title exist in parallel.
And what Sargent depicted on this vertical canvas was the 'shadow' of real people's daily lives, far removed from tourist attractions.

From 1880 to 1882, the young Sargent stayed in Venice.
He resolutely refused to paint typical tourist spots.
Instead, he turned his attention to eerie backstreets, like a cracked labyrinth.

In 1883.
Sargent exhibited a series of street scenes at the first exhibition of the 'Société Internationale de Peintres et Sculpteurs' held at the prestigious Galerie Georges Petit in Paris.
However, what awaited him was harsh criticism.

The paintings are commonplace and boring.
The backstreets are too dark.
The disheveled, grimy local women completely destroy the image of the elegant beauties of yesteryear.

Conservative critics vehemently rejected the realistic portrayal of Venice he presented.
What they sought was Italy as a comforting fantasy.
However, Sargent, with a realistic approach, depicted the 'shadow' of the daily lives of the real people living there, and a single sharp ray of light piercing through it.

Later, in 1926, this painting came into the possession of Robert Sterling Clark.
And to this day, it is carefully preserved in the museum bearing his name.