Marine
1883 (?)
Medium
Watercolor and gouache on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
9 x 10 3/4 in. (22.9 x 27.3 cm)
Classification
Watercolor
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Susan Dwight Bliss, 1966
Accession Number
67.55.172
Tags
Art Historical Context
John La Farge's *Marine* (1883?), a delicate seascape rendered in watercolor and gouache on off wove paper, captures fluid beauty of the sea in intimate scale—measuring just 9 x10 3/4 inches. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing, this American work reflects the late 19th-century fascination with nature's sublime power, evoking the restless energy of waves and horizon through La Farge's masterful handling of translucent layers. La Farge, a pioneering figure in American art, elevated watercolor from mere sketch medium to high art, blending it with gouache for luminous opacit...
About the Artist
John La Farge · 1835–1910
John La Farge (1835–1910) was born into a wealthy French émigré family in New York City, the son of John Frederick La Farge and Louisa Binsse de Saint-Victor. Educated at Jesuit institutions including Mount St. Mary's College in Maryland and St. John's College (now Fordham University), he initially pursued law but turned to art after receiving early drawing lessons from his maternal grandfather, a...