Watercolor Artist - USA (2020-04)

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WILLIAM A. CLARK COLLECTION, CORCORAN

COLLECTION/

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

Semicircles repeat throughout

the composition in the form of

arched entryways. Amid the

arches and rooftops, Fortuny

included a small window of blue

sky that animates the painting

andallowsavisualpathway

outofanenclosedspace.

French painter Henri Regnault (1843–1871) exclaimed of Fortuny, “He is

master to us all. If you could only see the two or three pictures he’s

completing at the moment and the watercolors that he has done recently.

It makes me feel disgusted with my own ... oh, Fortuny, you give me

sleepless nights!” An 1898 publication states that Regnault modeled for

the semiclothed standing figure. Given Regnault’s age at the time this was

painted—in 1860 or1862,hewouldhavebeen 17 or19—andgiventhe

naturalismwithwhichtheolderman’storsoispainted,thatseemsunlikely.

Thehorseontheleftfacesintothe

sceneandleadsustoamodest

procession of reclining figures. These, in

turn, take us around a corner, where we

find numerous overlapping architectural

forms and half-hidden details.

In1869,FortunygiftedAStreetinTangierstoa

collector.Thewatercolorlaterpassedtoanother

private owner and was eventually bequeathed to

the Corcoran Collection, in Washington, D.C. After

the Corcoran closed, the painting entered the

collection of the National Gallery of Art in 2015.