Sketch of Santa Sophia by John Singer Sargent Holiday Card

Sketch of Santa Sophia (1891) by John Singer Sargent is a vintage Victorian Era fine art religious architectural building painting. An interior view in a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, the Hagia Sophia, later a mosque and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. Famous for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and to have "changed the history of architecture." About the artist: John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) was the most successful portrait painter of his era. Sargent is usually not thought of as an Impressionism painter, but he sometimes used impressionistic techniques to great effect with his own version of the impressionist style.