Leaving Athens (from Sketchbook) 1904

This is Mary Newbold Sargent’s delicate, gray watercolor sketch, probably made in situ, of *Leaving Athens*. The image is atmospheric, minimal. Thin washes create subtle tonal shifts in the sky and water, with light graphite marks suggesting distant mountains and buildings. You can almost feel the artist there, lightly and quickly trying to capture the landscape, the light, and the feeling of a place. I can imagine her sitting there, in the sun perhaps, dabbing at the paper with her brush, trying to catch the essence of the scene before her. The paper has a beautiful off-white tone, a subtle warmth that emphasizes the cool grays of the watercolor. The horizon line is clear and solid and this accentuates the transience of the sky. It makes me think about the fleeting nature of experience, of travel, of seeing something for the first or last time. It's a gentle reminder of how even the simplest of gestures can hold so much feeling, and how artists, across time, are constantly in dialogue with each other, each one adding their own little mark to the ongoing conversation.