School at Fribourg

This work is a tour de force of observation and watercolor technique. The viewer peers up the stairway in this complex architectural study to the shadowy interior of the school's imposing doorway. A succession of planes of ironwork and stone articulate our progress from exterior to interior. Although the iron stair railing draws our attention from the foreground to the massive doorway, the window grill is painted with even greater care: the curving iron designs almost obscure the darker planes and mullions beneath. Washes of watercolor render light and shadow, animating the concave surface of the arch above the door. Looser strokes of paint suggest the rough texture of the exterior stonework. Dana's technique, as well as his regard for architectural elements, recalls the brilliant watercolors of his contemporary, John Singer Sargent.