The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 222a
The Riva and San Marco, Venice
Date
The Riva and San Marco, Venice dates from 1879/1880. 1
According to the Pennells, when Whistler was in Venice he painted two oil paintings] 'from Mr. Ross Turner's terrace, one looking ... up [the Riva] to San Marco ... full of little figures and with boats and a suggestion of the Lagoon, in the background.' 2 Ross Sterling Turner (1847-1915) was an American artist – a skilful watercolourist and illustrator – and friend of Whistler while he was in Venice. He was in Europe from 1876 and associated with the 'Duveneck Boys' in Venice, before settling to Boston in 1882.
Images
The Riva and San Marco, Venice, Whereabouts Unknown
Sunset, in red and brown, Freer Gallery of Art
Subject
Titles
Only one title has been suggested:
- 'The Riva and San Marco, Venice' (1980, YMSM). 3
Description
According to the Pennells, Whistler painted the view 'from Mr. Ross Turner's terrace, ... looking ... up [the Riva] to San Marco ... full of little figures and with boats and a suggestion of the Lagoon, in the background.' 4
Site
The Riva degli Schiavoni in Venice, with the cathedral of San Marco in the distance. Whistler did paint the cathedral from the adjacent square in Nocturne: Blue and Gold - St Mark's, Venice y213.
Sunset, in red and brown, Freer Gallery of Art
A view of San Marco similar to that described by the Pennells is seen in several of Whistler's pastels and etchings of Venice, notably the etchings The Riva [229] and Riva, No. 2 [230], and the pastel Sunset, in red and brown m0743, which show San Marco in the extreme distance.
Technique
Technique
Unknown.
Conservation History
Unknown.
History
Provenance
Unknown.
Exhibitions
Unknown.
Bibliography
Catalogues Raisonnés
- Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 222a) as 'The Riva and San Marco, Venice', etching repr. plate 415.
Authored by Whistler
- None.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- None.
Journals 1855-1905
- None.
Monographs
- None.
Books on Whistler
- Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 5th (revised) edition, London and Philadelphia, 1911, pp. 200-01.
Books, General
- None.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- None.
Journals 1906-Present
- None.
Websites
- None.
Unpublished
- None.
Other
- None.
Notes:
1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 222a).
2: Pennell 1911 A [more], pp. 200-01.
3: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 222a).
4: Pennell 1911 A [more], pp. 200-1.