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

 

M.0739
The Giudecca - Winter; grey and blue

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1879
Collection: Private Collection
Accession Number: none
Medium: chalk and pastel
Support: brown wove paper
Size: 8 x 11 3/4" (204 x 300 mm)
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: 'No 23. 11 x 5 1/4'

The Giudecca - Winter; grey and blue

Site

The Giudecca – Winter; grey and blue, Private Collection
The Giudecca – Winter; grey and blue, Private Collection

The Canale della Giudecca and Isola della Giudecca lie south of Venice. This view was drawn from the west end of the Public Gardens, looking north-west to the Riva degli Schiavoni. The watercolour Venice Harbour [M.0726] shows a similar view. At left are the Royal gardens, the Campanile and the Doge's Palace. 1

Comments

Anon., Copy of The Giudecca – Winter; grey and blue, private collection
Anon., Copy of The Giudecca – Winter; grey and blue, private collection

There is a detailed copy of the pastel, with a deformed butterfly 'signature', by an unidentified artist. 2 This may have confused the history of Whistler's pastel.

Notes:

1: Grieve 2000 [more] , p. 140, repr. p. 142.

2: With Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, 31 December 2008.

Last updated: 11th April 2021 by Margaret