Technique

Ponte delle Turchette, photo, M. F. MacDonald, 1995

The skilful technique was admired by the art critic of The Standard:

' "The Bridge: flesh colour and brown," presents an effect seemingly more elaborate, and only a most skilled use of the Pastels could have enabled Mr. Whistler to place equally on his paper the solidity of the houses — often whitish, with their thick-painted shutters — and the indefinite reflections of those houses in the sluggish yet still moving water of the side canal. For the first, the touch of the Pastel must be decisive and sharp; for the second, it must seem indeterminate and hazy. Yet the work is so well done that we hardly feel that it was skilful to do it.' 1

See the discussion in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 759).