Detail from The Canal, Amsterdam, 1889, James McNeill Whistler, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

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The Riva and San Marco, Venice

Titles

Only one title has been suggested:

  • 'The Riva and San Marco, Venice' (1980, YMSM). 1

Description

According to the Pennells, Whistler painted the view 'from Mr. Ross Turner's terrace, ... looking ... up [the Riva] to San Marco ... full of little figures and with boats and a suggestion of the Lagoon, in the background.' 2

Site

The Riva degli Schiavoni in Venice, with the cathedral of San Marco in the distance. Whistler did paint the cathedral from the adjacent square in Nocturne: Blue and Gold - St Mark's, Venice [YMSM 213].

Sunset, in red and brown, Freer Gallery of Art
Sunset, in red and brown, Freer Gallery of Art

A view of San Marco similar to that described by the Pennells is seen in several of Whistler's pastels and etchings of Venice, notably the etchings The Riva [229] and Riva, No. 2 [230], and the pastel Sunset, in red and brown [M.0743], which show San Marco in the extreme distance.

Notes:

1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 222a).

2: Pennell 1911 A [more], pp. 200-1.

Last updated: 10th November 2019 by Margaret