Skip to Main Content
Home>Exhibitions>Past>2022>In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

Past Exhibition

October 3 – December 30, 2022
East Building, Ground Level - Library

Weekdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A distant land celebrated for its fusion of cultures, Spain in the time of John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) fascinated many. As railroads began crisscrossing the sun-drenched countryside, more visitors could reach more places. Artists like Sargent went to explore: he studied works by Spanish masters, viewed architecture and gardens—with their rich blend of influences, and encountered a land and people that fueled his creative imagination. A craze for all things Spanish ensued, especially in the United States, where many Spanish artworks entered private collections.

A vibrant visual culture emerged in Spain as commercial photographers such as Juan Laurent established studios that catered to the influx of visitors. As this imagery was collected and dispersed, it entered the popular imagination and defined the region in ways that still influence us today. These materials—the period postcards, fine photographs, and albums—allow us to see Spain as Sargent did, from its landscapes, architecture, and art to its music, dance, and costumes.

Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain draws upon photographs and printed matter in the Department of Image Collections of the National Gallery of Art Library. This exhibition is held in conjunction with Sargent and Spain.

Selected Works

In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

J. E. Purdy (1859–1933, photographer), John Singer Sargent, 1903, cabinet card–mounted gelatin silver DOP photograph, Boston: J. E. Purdy (firm), National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections, Hertzmann Collection of Photographs of American Artists
In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

Juan Laurent (1816–1886, photographer), Tudela to Bilbao: Logroño Railway Station, 1865, albumen silver photograph, Madrid: J. Laurent (firm), National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections
In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

J. & C. Walker (active 1820–1895, print publisher, London), engraved foldout map of the Kingdom of Andalucía, in Richard Ford’s A Handbook for Travellers in Spain (1845), London: John Murray (firm), National Gallery of Art Library
In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

José María Galván y Candela (1837–1899, engraver), etching and aquatint after Francisco Goya’s The Burial of the Sardine (1808–1812), in Selected Pictures of the Royal Academy of the Three Noble Arts of San Fernando (1872), Madrid: Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections, René Huyghe Archive
In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

Joseph Lacoste (1872–c. 1930, photographer), albumen silver photograph of Diego Velázquez’s Prince Baltasar Carlos on Horseback (1635–1636), 1900/1915, Madrid: J. Lacoste (firm), National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections 
In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

Juan Laurent (1816–1886, photographer), Panorama of Ávila, c. 1870, albumen silver photograph, Madrid: J. Laurent (firm), National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections
In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

Rafael Garzón Rodríguez (1863–1923, photographer), Retablo (Altar) by F. de Borgoña, Capilla Real, Granada, c. 1890, gelatin silver DOP photograph, Granada: Rafael Garzón (firm), National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections
In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

Charles Mauzaisse (1823-1885, photographer), The Court of the Lions, Alhambra, Granada, 1862, albumen silver photograph, National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections
In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

Juan Laurent (1816–1886, photographer), The Palace of Monserrate, Sintra, Portugal, 1869, albumen silver photograph, Madrid: J. Laurent (firm), National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections
In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

Juan Laurent (1816–1886, photographer), The Fountain of Narcissus, Garden of the Prince, Palace of Aranjuez, c. 1880s, albumen silver photograph printed from a Gramstorff collodion negative, Boston: Soule later Gramstorff Art Publishing (firm) copying 1863 photograph by J. Laurent, National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections
In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

Juan Laurent (1816–1886, photographer), Patio of the Acequia in the Generalife, Granada, c. 1881, albumen silver photograph, Madrid: J. Laurent (firm), National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections
In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

Casiano Alguacil Blázquez (1832–1914, photographer), Inhabitants of Toledo (c. 1880s), in Spain: Toledo, Cordova, Granada, Seville, Valencia, Barcelona (1879/1894?), plate 23 from first of two albums of 189 albumen silver photographs, Madrid: J. Laurent (firm), National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections
In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

Casiano Alguacil Blázquez (1832–1914, photographer), Inhabitants of Toledo (c. 1880s), in Spain: Toledo, Cordova, Granada, Seville, Valencia, Barcelona (1879/1894?), plate 24 from first of two albums of 189 albumen silver photographs, Madrid: J. Laurent (firm), National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections
In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

Casiano Alguacil Blázquez (1832–1914, photographer), Inhabitants of Toledo (c. 1880s), in Spain: Toledo, Cordova, Granada, Seville, Valencia, Barcelona (1879/1894?), plate 25 from first of two albums of 189 albumen silver photographs, Madrid: J. Laurent (firm), National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections
In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

Juan Laurent (1816–1886, photographer), Inhabitants of Quero, Toledo Province (1878), in Burgos, Madrid, Toledo, Escorial, Cordoba y Sevilla (1878/1890), plate 58 from album of 103 albumen silver photographs, Madrid: J. Laurent (firm), National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections
In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

Etienne-Gabriel Bocourt (1821–after 1882, engraver), etching after John Singer Sargent’s El Jaleo, 1882, Paris: Salon of 1882, National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections 
In the Library: Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain

Thomas E. Marr (1849-1910, photographer), John Singer Sargent’s “El Jaleo” (1882) in the Spanish Cloister, Fenway Court, c. 1922, gelatin silver DOP photograph from an album of 55 views of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Boston: Thomas E. Mott & Son (firm), National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections

Organization
Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington

This exhibition is curated by Thomas O’Callaghan, Image Specialist for Spanish Art, National Gallery of Art, Department of Image Collections.

Passes
Admission is always free and passes are not required

Banner detail: Casiano Alguacil Blázquez (1832–1914, photographer), Inhabitants of Toledo (c. 1880s), in Spain: Toledo, Cordova, Granada, Seville, Valencia, Barcelona (1879/1894?), plate 23 from first of two albums of 189 albumen silver photographs, Madrid: J. Laurent (firm), National Gallery of Art Library, Department of Image Collections