The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

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

Images

Subject

Titles

One title has been suggested:

• 'Nocturne of the Giudecca, Venice' (1980, YMSM). ⁵

Description

The Pennells recorded that 'Mr. Brooks has told us of ... a Nocturne of the Giudecca, with shipping, on a panel.' ⁶

Site

The Giudecca is a long island south of the central islands of the city of Venice, from which it is separated by the broad Giudecca Canal. At the eastern end of the Giudecca is the island of San Giorgio dominated by the church of San Giorgio Maggiore.

Venice, Freer Gallery of Art

Whistler's pastels of the Giudecca include The Giudecca - Winter; grey and blue m0739, Venice m0802, and The Giudecca; note in flesh colour m0817. Etchings of the Giudecca canal with shipping include Shipping, Venice [217], Nocturne Shipping [206], and San Giorgio [214].

Comments

Jobbins's carefully painted, straightforward genre scenes include The Fish Market, Venice (Nottingham City Museums) and On the Zattere, Venice. ⁷

Technique

Technique

Unknown.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

• 1880: given by Whistler to William Henry Jobbins (1851-1893);
• Date unknown: sold to Charles Stuart Forbes (1856-1926) (1856-1926).

In 1908 the Pennells recorded that 'Mr. Brooks has told us of ...a Nocturne of the Giudecca ... which Whistler gave to Mr. Jobbins, who... painted a sketch on the back, and then sold it to Mr. Brooks, who still has it.' ⁸ However, in the revised edition of their biography, in 1911, they stated that it was Charles S. Forbes who had told them that Whistler gave the panel to Jobbins, and that Jobbins painted 'a sketch on the back and then sold it to Forbes, who still has it.' ⁹ Unfortunately it has not been possible to confirm the provenance or locate the picture.

Exhibitions

Unknown.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 219) as 'Nocturne of the Giudecca, Venice'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, p. 288.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 5th (revised) edition, London and Philadelphia, 1911, p. 201.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Palaces in the Night: Whistler in Venice, Aldershot and California, 2001, p. 30.

Books, General

• Fildes, L. V. (ed.), Luke Fildes R. A.: A Victorian Painter, London, 1968, p. 65.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• None.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 96).

Other

• None.