The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.0737
Campanile at Lido
Date
Campanile at Lido dates from between October and December 1879. It may well have been drawn early in Whistler's time in Venice, shortly after his arrival in the autumn of 1879, before the weather became too cold.
Campanile at Lido, Debra Force Gallery
It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 737).
Images
Campanile at Lido, Debra Force Gallery
Subject
Description
A view in horizontal format, showing a church with a tall tower at right, surrounded by smaller buildings and trees. The sky is turquoise blue; pale blue streaks at left and right are glimpses of the lagoon. There are two shades of green, light and dark. The buildings range from beige to orange and brown. The bells on the tower are suggested by touches of dark blue. What may be some washing is in similar colours, two shades of blue, white, cream and beige.
Site
Campanile at Lido, Debra Force Gallery
The church of Santa Maria Elisabetta on the Lido, Venice, Italy. 1
The Lido is an island to the southeast of Venice. When Whistler was there it was becoming a fashionable resort and is still a popular tourist destination. The church of Sta Margherita looks straight over the lagoon to the city. Whistler etched the view of the distant city from there, in The Little Venice [238]. The church backs onto a small square, where Whistler must have sat to draw. The view is now obscured with shops, booths and toilets.
Technique
Technique
Campanile at Lido, Debra Force Gallery
The paper is brown with a reddish tone and slightly bumpy surface, and has a horizontal grain on the recto. The drawing was started with the grain vertical, and the earlier drawing of the tower and church building are visible on the right. There are two pinholes in the middle and corners, and scratchy lines and indecisive work around the building. The butterfly is unusually large, like those on early proofs of etchings.
History
Provenance
- 1980: sold at auction, Sotheby's, London, 25 June 1980 (lot 178, repr.) as 'A Venetian Church' and bought by a private collector;
- 2020: Michael Owen Gallery, New York;
- 2020-2021: Debra Force Gallery, New York.
The earlier provenance is unknown. The frame originally had the label of FROST AND REED Ltd, Bristol, Clare Street, London, 41 New Bond St W1, and this (now known only from a photogcopy) possibly included the numbers 6694 or 6699, and a date, '08-8-18' or '28-8-28'.
Exhibitions
- 1881: Venice Pastels, Fine Art Society, London, 1881 (cat. no. 27) as 'Campanilo at Lido'.
Whistler's friend, the architect, Edward William Godwin (1833-1886), attended Whistler's exhibition of Venetian pastels in 1881. He wrote a review of the show, deriving it from notes jotted down in a catalogue, which is now in Glasgow University Library. He is, with Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), the main source for first-hand information on the pastels, and their reception in London. Campanilo at Lido, Fish Market, San Barnaba m0761, and Campanile Santa Margherita m0773 were criticized by Godwin for 'a somewhat looser handling'. 2 On the other hand, the Athenaeum admired the 'capital rendering of a broad effect with massive shadows' and the art critic of The Times wrote: 'The campanile at Lido, with the slender tower telling strongly against the sky, ever so slightly brushed over with a mere bloom of blue, forms an exceedingly pleasant sketch.' 3
Bibliography
Catalogues Raisonnés
- MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 737) as 'Campanilo at Lido'.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- Venice Pastels, Fine Art Society, London, 1881 (cat. no. 27) as 'Campanilo at Lido'.
Newspapers 1855-1905
- 'Mr. Whistler's Venice Pastels', The Times, London, 9 February 1881.
Journals 1855-1905
- Anon., 'Mr Whistler's Pastels', Athenaeum, no. 2780, 5 February 1881, p. 206.
- Anon., [Godwin, E. W.], 'Review of Venice Pastels Exhibition', British Architect, 4 February 1881, pp. 59-64.
- Anon., 'Mr. Whistler's Wenice; or, Pastels by Pastelthwaite,' Punch, vol. 80, 12 February 1881, p. 69.
Books on Whistler
- Grieve, Alastair, Whistler's Venice, New Haven and London, 2000, pp. 178, 189, repr. pl. 233, view repr. pl. 234.
- MacDonald, Margaret F., Palaces in the Night: Whistler in Venice, Aldershot and California, 2001, p. 25.
- Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, repr. f. p. 52.
Catalogues 1906-Present
SALE:
- Sotheby's, London, 25 June 1980 (lot 178, repr.) as 'A Venetian Church'.
Notes:
1: Grieve 2000 [more], pp. 178, 189, repr. pl. 233, view repr. pl. 234.
2: Anon. [Godwin, E. W.], 'Review of Venice Pastels Exhibition', British Architect, 4 February 1881, pp. 59-64. Press cutting kept by Whistler, GUL Whistler PC4, pp. 37-38.
3: Anon., 'Mr Whistler's Pastels', Athenaeum, no. 2780, 5 February 1881, p. 206. GUL Whistler PC 4, pp. 37-38. The Times, London, 9 February 1881. GUL PC15, p. 27.