As a young man the American painter John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) was passionate about the sea and deeply knowledgeable about ships and seafaring. Between the ages of 18 and 23, he started his career as a professional painter with a remarkable rang...

Throughout his career – and particularly in the period from 1898 to 1913 – John Singer Sargent painted the spectacular architecture and scenes of everyday life in Venice, as he sat alongside the Grand Canal or in a gondola in the sleepy side canals....