Provenance

• 1883: given by the artist to the sculptor Joseph Edgar Boehm (1834-1890) , London.
• 1909: sold at auction, Christie's, London, 27 March 1909 (lot 85) as 'Venice pastel' and either bought by 'Bates' or bought in;
• 1909: bought from Colnaghi's, London dealers, by Burton Mansfield (1856-1932) , New Haven, CT.
• Date unknown: with Macbeth, New York dealers'
• 1933: after his death, sold at auction, AAA, New York, 7 April 1933 (lot 14) and bought by J. A. Kalman, according to George Dupont Pratt (1869-1935), Glen Cove, Long Island;
• 1933: given by Amherst graduate George Dupont Pratt (1869-1935) to Amherst College.

It was originally given by Whistler to his friend the sculptor J. E. Boehm. A paper that was originally attached to the frame was inscribed by the artist 'To Boehm - whose Art is exquisite and whose sympathy is sufficient'.

See further details in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 817).

Exhibitions

• 1881: Venice Pastels, Fine Art Society, London, 1881 (cat. no. 13) as 'The Giudecca; note in flesh colour'.

It was described in the Daily Telegraph as 'a jewelled art-work … which holds the crowning place of honour, on the south wall of the gallery', but queried the title, since 'the aerial flsuh … in his finely luminous distance would only be a small accessory were he really paintig flesh.' 1