The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Grand Canal, Venice dates from the summer of 1880 when Whistler was in Venice. ¹

The Connecticut artist Willis Seaver Adams (1842–1921), a friend of Otto Henry Bacher (1856-1909), and follower of Frank Duveneck (1848-1919), met Whistler in Venice, remembered an incident during that summer:

'Once a year, in the summer time, it is the custom of Venetians to go to the Lido . . . to see the sun rise. They leave in the evening ... make a night of it, and Whistler was one of the number. Next day he wished to make a study from our window, the approach to the Grand Canal. Leaving him for a time by himself, upon my return there was a striking study of the view on the easel, and Whistler before the easel asleep. The brushes had fallen from his grasp, and, well charged with fresh paint, were resting in his lap. As he wore white duck trousers, the effect can well be imagined.' ²

Images

Subject

Titles

One title has been suggested:

• 'Grand Canal, Venice' (1980, YMSM). ³

Description

According to Willis Seaver Adams (1842–1921) in Venice Whistler painted 'a study from our window, the approach to the Grand Canal.' ⁴

Site

According to the landscape painter Willis Seaver Adams, it was a view from 'our window' looking towards the Grand Canal, Venice. ⁵

Sunset; red and gold – Salute, The Hunterian

Venetian scene, New Britain Museum of American Art

Salute – Sundown, The Hunterian

The view from or along the Riva degli Schiavoni was a favourite of Whistler's: see, for instance, several pastels, including Venetian scene m0744, Nocturne: ships and gondolas, Venice m0801, Salute - Sundown m0809, and Sunset: Venice m0813, and etchings including Salute Dawn [207], and Venice [213].

Technique

Technique

Unknown.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.

History

Provenance

Unknown.

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. 221) as 'Grand Canal, Venice'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Eddy, Arthur Jerome, Recollections and Impressions of James A. McNeill Whistler, Philadelphia and London, 1903, p. 92.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• None.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.