The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Canal Scene in Holland dates from 1899/1900.

A canal in Holland, Colby College Museum of Art

It is dated from the technique and Whistler's known visits to Holland at the turn of the century.

Images

Subject

Site

A canal in Holland, Colby College Museum of Art

Probably Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands.

Technique

Technique

A canal in Holland, Colby College Museum of Art

Whistler used a square-ended brush for some of the bricks and reflections, and a fine-pointed sable brush for details. Some drops of colour were dropped into larger areas of wash, so that the colours ran into each other, and some were superimposed in layers. White body-colour was used above the roof in the centre and round some windows.

History

Provenance

• ca 1900: possibly bought from Whistler by Ralph King (1855-1926), Cleveland, Ohio;
• 1926: passed by family descent to a private collector;
• 2013: sold at auction, Sotheby's, New York, 22 May 2013 (cat. no. 36) as 'Canal Scene in Holland';
• 2013: given by Paula Crane Lunder (b. 1935) and Peter H. Lunder (b. 1933) to the Colby College Museum of Art.

Exhibitions

Unknown.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• Not catalogued in MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995.

Catalogues 1906-Present

SALE:

• Sotheby’s (eds), American Art, sale catalogue, New York, 22 May 2013 (cat. no. 36) as 'Canal Scene in Holland'.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• 'James McNeill Whistler', Sotheby's, New York at www.sothebys.com.
• Colby College Museum of Art, at www.colby.edu.