Rheingantz cites many influences, but for WCMA the most important is Maurice Brazil Prendergast. The museum has the largest holdings of Prendergast, and we have placed five watercolors of Italy in dialogue with Rheingantz’s Vavale. Beyond formal similarities of weightless forms created with passages of staccato brushwork, Rheingantz and Prendergast manifest scenes observed or remembered. Prendergast’s work is frequently discussed as anodyne images of middle-class leisure. The juxtaposition of Vavale might allow us to investigate criticality in his work– perhaps he is commenting on the frivolous banality of the tourist spots he depicted.