The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Old Bridge – Winter dates from 1879.

The Old Bridge – Winter, The Hunterian

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 728).

Images

Subject

Site

The Old Bridge – Winter, The Hunterian

To draw this scene, Whistler sat in an old gateway looking across at the Ponte Sartorio, and north along the Rio de l'Avogaria, in the sestiere of Dorsoduro, Venice, Italy. ¹

Technique

Technique

The Old Bridge – Winter, The Hunterian

MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 728).

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at the time of his death and bequeathed to his sister-in-law and executric Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1935: given by Miss Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow.

Exhibitions

• 1881: Venice Pastels, Fine Art Society, London, 1881 (cat no. 34) 'The Old Bridge - Winter'.
• 1889: “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 62) 'Grey and Flesh Colour – Venice'.

It was priced at 30 guineas in 1889, but remained unsold, and was returned to Whistler after the exhibition by Wunderlich's on the SS Servia. ²

By the terms of Miss Birnie Philip's gift, this drawing can not be lent to another venue.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 728) as 'The Old Bridge – Winter'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Venice Pastels, Fine Art Society, London, 1881 (cat no. 34) 'The Old Bridge – Winter'.
• “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 62) 'Grey and Flesh Colour – Venice'.

Books on Whistler

• Grieve, Alastair, Whistler's Venice, New Haven and London, 2000, pp. 50-51, repr. pl. 36.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Palaces in the Night: Whistler in Venice, Aldershot and California, 2001, p. 39.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk.