The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Little Riva; in opal dates from 1879/1880.

The Little Riva; in opal, Lauren Rogers Museum of Art

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 749).

Images

Subject

Site

The Little Riva; in opal, Lauren Rogers Museum of Art

A view from the Fondamenta Zattere, looking across to the Riva degli Schiavoni, Venice, Italy. The church of La Pietà is visible, with a row of white buildings to right, but the Public Gardens are concealed by the boats. ¹ In 1927 the drawing was thought to be 'Nocturne: Amsterdam Harbor' but is definitely Venice.

Technique

Technique

The Little Riva; in opal, Lauren Rogers Museum of Art

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 749).

History

Provenance

• 1927: bought on 9 April from the John Levy Galleries, New York, by Wallace Brown Rogers (1870-1943), Eastman Foundation, Laurel, for the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art.

The earlier provenance is unknown.

Exhibitions

• 1881: possibly Venice Pastels, Fine Art Society, London, 1881 (cat. no. 3) as 'The Little Riva; in opal'.

It was described in the Daily Telegraph as 'truly opalescent in its blinking inner light and flecks of cobalt, and other pure, lustrous tints.' ²

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 749) as 'The Little Riva; in opal'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Possibly Venice Pastels, Fine Art Society, London, 1881 (cat. no. 3) as 'The Little Riva; in opal'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Mr. Whistler's Venice Pastels', Daily News, London, 31 January 1881, p. 2.
• Anon., 'Venice Pastels, Daily Telegraph, London, 5 February 1881.
• Anon., 'Art: Venice Pastels', The Observer, London, 6 February 1881, supplement p. 1.

Journals 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Mr Whistler's Pastels', Athenaeum, no. 2780, 5 February 1881, p. 206.
• Country Gentleman, 5 February 1881.

Books on Whistler

• Grieve, Alastair, Whistler's Venice, New Haven and London, 2000, pp. 80-81, repr. pl. 87.
• Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, repr. f.p. 53.

Books, General

• The Lauren Rogers Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1989, p. 32.
• The Lauren Rogers Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, revised edition, Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2003, p. 35.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• MacDonald, Margaret F., Notes, Harmonies, and Nocturnes: Small Works by James McNeill Whistler, M. Knoedler and Co., New York, 1984 (cat. no. 63).
• Denker, Eric, Whistler and his circle in Venice, London, 2003 (cat. no. 73).

Websites

• Lauren Rogers Museum of Art database online at https://lrma.pastperfectonline.com.