Nocturne of the Giudecca, Venice dates from Whistler's trip to Venice between late 1879 and 1880. 1

In 1908 the Pennells, describing works painted by Whistler in Venice in 1880, recorded that 'Mr. Brooks has told us of another, a Nocturne of the Giudecca, with shipping, on a panel, which Whistler gave to Mr. Jobbins, who thought so little of it that he painted a sketch on the back, and then sold it to Mr. Brooks, who still has it.' 2 Later (1911) the Pennells corrected this, stating that it was the American/Swiss painter Charles Stuart Forbes (1856-1926) who had said that Whistler gave the panel to Jobbins, who painted 'a sketch on the back and then sold it to Forbes, who still has it.' 3

William Henry Jobbins (1851-1893) was a Nottingham-born landscape painter. According to Henry Woods (1846-1921), quoted by Samuel Luke Fildes (1844-1927), Whistler shared a studio with Jobbins in Venice for five or six months. 4