Continental drift

Why did Florence become a hotspot for Americans in the late 19th and early 20th century? Henry James, Edith Wharton, John Singer Sargent and a gang of other American artists and writers descended on the Arno, often for years at a time. Sargent, born in Florence, the son of a Philadelphia eye surgeon, didn’t get to see America until he was 20. This engaging — if chaotic — exhibition answers the question.

The Grand Tour had been around since the 16th century, first for the aristocracy and then for the bourgeoisie of northern Europe; Americans were part of the artistic immigrant crowd from the mid-18th century. But it was only at the end of the Civil War that a critical mass of Americans had the security — and money — to roam the Continent at leisure, their travel smoothed by European railways and transatlantic steamers.

Like his compatriots Sargent and Whistler, Henry James was one of these ‘hotel children’, born to rich, cosmopolitan parents, whose Grand Tours could last for decades. The show includes Sargent’s marvellous portrait of Henry James. With his wing collar, spreading, pin-striped waistcoat and watch chain, James looks the picture of plump prosperity — an American Captain Mainwaring. His lips are parted; he is about to speak, it seems — the moment, Bernini said, when people are at their most characteristic.

Sargent is the star of the show. Unlike lots of other artists in the exhibition, he had extremely strong Florentine and Italian connections. The inspiration behind Sargent’s ‘The Hotel Room’ was probably in Rome, but it might as well be in Florence — you can feel the powerful southern heat and light through the shuttered window, the harsh rays striking the jumble of half-unpacked luggage we all dump in our hotel rooms.