The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Riva – Sunset; red and gold dates from 1880.

The Riva – Sunset; red and gold, Yale University Art Gallery

This pastel is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 807).

Images

Subject

Site

The Riva – Sunset; red and gold, Yale University Art Gallery

Venice, Italy. A view of the Giudecca, with the church of the Redentore on the left and Santa Maria della Salute on the right. ¹

Technique

Technique

The Riva – Sunset; red and gold, Yale University Art Gallery

Discussed in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 807).

History

Provenance

• Date unknown: said to have been in the collection of Robert Woods Bliss (1875–1962), Dunbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.
• Date unknown: said to have been in the collection of William Rolfe, Jr.
• 1962: sold at auction, Christie's, London, 22 June 1962 (4) as 'Sunset on the Giudecca, Venice' and bought by 'Rogers';
• 1962-1963: with Mortimer Brandt, New York dealer, as 'Sunset on the Giudecca, Venice' (catalogue, repr.).
• 1966: sold at auction, Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 20 June 1966 (lot 13) as 'Nocturne. The Riva. Venice' and bought by Agnew's, London dealers;
• 1966: bought on 11 October by Yale University Art Gallery from the Mary Gertrude Abbey Fund.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 807).

Exhibitions

• 1881: Venice Pastels, Fine Art Society, London, 1881 (cat. no. 6) as 'The Riva – Sunset; red and gold.'

The London Standard on 31 January 1881 praised this pastel highly:

'The general favourite will probably be "The Riva, Sunset, Red and Gold." You are looking along the water towards the horizon sky, where its oolours are deepest — a mingling of many little clouds, red, orange, purple and blue — the dancing water catching the red and the gold. Not much work has been required to convey the effect that was observed, but it has been faultless work. Its few strokes are all frank and visible; there is not a touch that does not tell, and not one that can be harmlessly removed.'

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 807) as 'The Riva – Sunset; red and gold'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Venice Pastels, Fine Art Society, London, 1881 (cat. no. 6) as 'The Riva – Sunset; red and gold.'

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Mr. Whistler's Venice Pastels', The Daily News, London, 31 January 1881.
• Anon., 'Mr. Whistler's Pastels at the Fine Art Society', The Standard, London, 31 January 1881, p. 2.
• Anon., 'Art: Venice Pastels', The Observer, London, 6 February 1881, supplement p. 1.

Journals 1855-1905

• Anon., [Godwin, E. W.], 'Review of Venice Pastels Exhibition', British Architect, 4 February 1881, pp. 59-64.
• Anon., 'Mr Whistler's Pastels', Athenaeum, no. 2780, 5 February 1881, p. 206.
• 'Mr. Whistler's 'Venice Pastels', The Queen, 12 February 1881, p. 171.
• Wedmore, Frederick, 'Fine Art: Mr Whistler's Pastels', The Academy, vol. 29, 19 February 1881, p. 142.
• Fanfulla, 26 February 1881.

Books on Whistler

• Grieve, Alastair, Whistler's Venice, New Haven and London, 2000, pp. 159, 161, repr. pl. 202, view repr. pl. 203.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Palaces in the Night: Whistler in Venice, Aldershot and California, 2001, p. 99.
• Way, Thomas Robert, and G. R. Dennis, The Art of James McNeill Whistler: An Appreciation, 1st edition, London, 1903, p. 93.
• Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, repr. f.p. 52.

Journals 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, 'James McNeill Whistler: Aestheticizing Realism,' Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin, 2015, p. 44, fig. 1.

Websites

• Yale University Art Gallery website at https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/8121.