Temple of Minerva (from Sketchbook) 1904

Mary Newbold Sargent made this sweet little watercolour, Temple of Minerva, on paper sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. It’s so open in its mark-making; the kind of sketch where you can see the artist figuring things out as she goes. The washes of grey and delicate lines capture a sense of place, but it’s also about how paint can evoke light and atmosphere. The temple itself, perched on the hill, feels like a tiny thought bubble, a little classical idea. Look at the way the water meets the land – it’s all soft edges and subtle gradations. The grey isn’t just grey, it’s a whole world of greys, shifting and changing like the sea on a cloudy day. It makes me think of Whistler, another painter who was obsessed with capturing fleeting moments and moods with a similarly reduced palette. With Sargent, as with any artist, it's not just about the thing, but how we see the thing.