Seven Towers (from Sketchbook) 1904

Mary Newbold Sargent made this pencil sketch in her sketchbook at an unknown date. Look at this tower emerging through a fog of marks. I imagine Sargent sitting outside, squinting to see the tower. What I love about a sketch like this is its immediacy. The softness of the pencil makes the image feel like it's breathing, not static. You can almost feel the artist’s hand moving across the page, deciding what to keep and what to let fade away. The leaning tower, the bushes, and the mark-making feel connected in a way that a more polished drawing might not. And it makes you wonder, doesn't it? What was she thinking as she drew? Was she focused on accuracy, or was she more interested in capturing the feeling of being there, in that place, at that moment? This sketchbook page feels like a portal, something ancient yet completely present. And that’s what keeps me coming back to drawings like this - the sense of connection across time and thought.