The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

San Rocco dates from 1879/1880.

San Rocco, Boston Public Library

The pastel is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 772).

Images

Subject

Site

San Rocco, Boston Public Library

San Rocco, photograph, M. F. MacDonald, 1995

The white marble facade of San Rocco was designed by Bartolomeo Bon and Antonio Abbondi, and was built between 1515-1560. San Rocco (Saint Roch) was the Saint invoked in time of plague. Whistler drew the church from the bridge of C. del Scalater. ¹

Technique

Technique

San Rocco, Boston Public Library

See the discussion of the technique in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 772).

History

Provenance

• 1881/1884: William James Galloway (1833-1884) of Islington, London;
• 1884: passed to his estate;
• 1897: sold at auction, Sotheby's, London, 23 March 1897 (lot 160) as 'San Rocco, Venice' and probably bought by James Tregaskis (1850-1926), London book and art dealer.
• By 1905: owned by Alexander Arnold Hannay (1858-1927).
• 1919: bought from W. B. Patterson, London dealer, by Knoedler's, New York art dealers, on 25 April, and sold immediately to H. Sanderson, New York.
• Date unknown: with M. A. McDonald, New York dealer (label).
• 1920/1940: acquired by Albert Henry Wiggin (1868-1951), Boston;
• 1941: Albert H. Wiggin Collection given to Boston Public Library.

In a list of Whistler's works by Messrs Dowdeswell dating from the mid 1880s, Galloway is listed as 'W. J. Galloway (deceased) 2 Compton Terrace Upper Street - Islington.' ² The 1881 census confirms his identity.

Exhibitions

• 1881: Venice Pastels, Fine Art Society, London, 1881 (cat. no. 19) as 'San Rocco'.
• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 158) as 'Venise'.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 772) as 'San Rocco'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

EXHIBITION:

• Venice Pastels, Fine Art Society, London, 1881 (cat. no. 19) as 'San Rocco'.
• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 158) as 'Venise'.

SALE:

• Sotheby's, London, 23 March 1897 (lot 160) as 'San Rocco, Venice'

Books on Whistler

• Grieve, Alastair, Whistler's Venice, New Haven and London, 2000, pp. 72-73, repr. pl. 73, view repr. pl. 74.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Palaces in the Night: Whistler in Venice, Aldershot and California, 2001, pp. 55, 57, repr. pl. 62.
• Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, repr. f.p. 52.