James McNeill Whistler 1834-1903
Further images
The Fine Art Society’s commission for a series of etchings in Venice was a pivotal event in Whistler’s career. Coming in 1879, shortly after his bankruptcy, it provided him with an escape from London and the humiliations he had suffered. The view shows the Palazzo Gussoni, just south of the Ponte San Antonio on the Rio de la Fava near the Doge’s Palace. The Renaissance door frames a chairmaker’s workshop; chairs are seen hanging from the ceiling of the dark interior, with timber stacked to left. The deeply-bitten detail of the ironwork and carvings contrasts with the vertically wiped film of ink left on the bottom of the plate to convey the reflections in the canal.
Provenance
P. & D. Colnaghi & Co, London; Thomas Neilson Brown; The Fine Art Society, London, 2007; private collection, EnglandExhibitions
Selected exhibitions:
The Fine Art Society, J. McNeill Whistler: Venice, etchings in drypoint, London, 1880 (cat. no. 5, a different impression);
Universal Exhibition, Paris, 1889 (cat. no. 419, a different impression);
International Exhibition, Glasgow Art Galleries, Glasgow, 1901 (cat. no. 225, a different impression);
Literature
F. Wedmore, Whistler's Etchings: a Study and a Catalogue (London, 1886), no. 154; H. Mansfield, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Etchings and Dry-Points of James Abbott McNeill Whistler (Chicago 1909), no. 185; E.G. Kennedy, The Etched Work of Whistler (New York 1910), no. 188; M.F. MacDonald, G. Petri, M. Hausberg, and J. Meacock, James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné, (Glasgow 2011), on-line website at http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk, no. 193
Join our mailing list
* denotes required fields
We will process the personal data you have supplied to communicate with you in accordance with our Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.