Sargent’s departure from his first series is even more pronounced in his depiction of Venice’s most prominent buildings as we are forced to “look up” at the buildings from the gondola in the water. To explain, Vincent Scully observes that Sargent’s buildings are like the sitters in Sargent’s formal portraits that “consume space” and take up the entire paintings (qtd Adelson et. al. 188). In agreement with Scully, these watercolors highlight the grandiose architecture of Venetian buildings, and are the main focus of the pictures. In On the Steps of the Salute (1906), the church, Santa Maria della Salute, looms behind the bustling waterway. Sargent presents the 
Salute in comparison with the tiny people below it to accentuate its splendor, and Margaretta Lovell explains that this “retains a sense of the integrity of the structure and of its tremendous size” (Lovell 94). Sargent’s picture accurately portrays the enormity of the structure even though the picture is cropped, and we can begin to wonder what it would feel like to be at the base of the church. Additionally, it is significant that Sargent includes the boats passing in front of the church to illustrate the church’s importance as a landmark for one of the busiest mercantile intersections in Venice rather than a spiritual center (Kilmurray and Ormond 214). Moreover, in On the Grand Canal (1907) we experience this exquisite “gondola perspective” with the prow of Sargent’s gondola in the foreground. Sargent employs oblique angles to depict the building, the Palazzo Corner Contarini dei Cavalli at Rio di San Luca in On the Grand Canal (Adelson et. al. 193), and because we are looking up from a gondola, the top of the building is cropped. Without seeing the tops of this building, it becomes very hard to distinguish from other ones, and Sargent purposely does this so that only an acquainted eye can recognize which building it is. By highlighting the intricate nature of the buildings, Sargent attributes portrait-like characteristics to these watercolors in attempts to portray the “essence” of Venice.
Sargent, John Singer. On the Steps of the Salute. 1906. Private collection. Location Unknown.
Sargent, John Singer. On the Grand Canal. 1907. Private collection. Location Unknown.
