The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Venice: Sunset; v.: Bead-stringers dates from 1880.

Venice: Sunset, Freer Gallery of Art

v.: Bead-stringers, Freer Gallery of Art

This pastel is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 812).

Images

Subject

Titles

Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913) listed this in 1905 as 'Venice Sunset on the Rialto' but Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) changed it to 'Venice Sunrise on the Rialto' after he bought it. The view, however, does not show the Rialto, and whether this shows sunrise or sunset is not entirely clear. The sun would rise, as usual, in the east, to left of the artist, and could be setting beyond Sta Maria della Salute and the Grand canal. In both cases, the glow could spread over the whole panorama. It is likely that Whistler saw more sunsets than sunrises! A variation on the first published title is preferred, namely Venice: Sunset (omitting the reference to the Rialto). ¹

Site

Venice: Sunset, Freer Gallery of Art

Venice, Italy. A view of Santa Maria della Salute to left of centre, the Grand canal and, at right, the campanile and Doge's Palace, seen from the Casa Jankowitz on the Riva degli Schiavoni. ²

Technique

Technique

v.: Bead-stringers, Freer Gallery of Art

A building with balconies and arched windows, and women, was drawn sideways on under the lagoon, a variant on the scene drawn on the back of the sheet.

MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 812).

History

Provenance

• 1905: bought in June from Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), London, by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 812).

Exhibitions

By the terms of Freer's will, this pastel cannot 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. 812) as 'Venice: Sunset; v.: Bead-stringers'.

Books on Whistler

• Grieve, Alastair, Whistler's Venice, New Haven and London, 2000, pp. 114-16, repr. pl. 137.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Palaces in the Night: Whistler in Venice, Aldershot and California, 2001, p. 45, repr. pl. 48, view repr. pl. 49.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 259, pl. 246.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1905.331a-c as 'Venice: Sunrise on the Rialto'.