The Steamboat, Venice | ||
Number: | 212 | |
Date: | 1879/1880 | |
Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
Size: | 264 x 185 mm | |
Signed: | no | |
Inscribed: | no | |
Set/Publication: | no | |
No. of States: | 4 | |
Known impressions: | 4 | |
Catalogues: | K.228; M.225 | |
Impressions taken from this plate (4) |
KEYWORD
boat, fishing boats, gondola, lagoon, panorama, quay, church, people, ship, steamboat.
TITLE
Whistler's original title is not known. Variations on the title are as follows:
'The Steamboat, Venice' (1904, Grolier Club). 1
'The Little Salute' (1906, Otto Henry Bacher (1856-1909)). 2
'The Steamboat, Venice' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 3
The Grolier title, 'The Steamboat, Venice' used by later cataloguers is preferred.
'The Steamboat, Venice' (1904, Grolier Club). 1
'The Little Salute' (1906, Otto Henry Bacher (1856-1909)). 2
'The Steamboat, Venice' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 3
The Grolier title, 'The Steamboat, Venice' used by later cataloguers is preferred.
DESCRIPTION
In the foreground is a quay, alongside which is a man in a gondola. Off-shore, at left, is a side-wheel paddle steamer, and in the centre, a two-masted fishing-boat. Farther away are gondolas and fishing boats under sail, and at far right, a small two-masted boat. In the distance are buildings along the riva, above which rise the domes of Santa Maria della Salute, under a cloudy sky.
SITE
The Riva degli Schiavoni, Venice, Italy. Whistler moved into the Casa Jankowitz on the Riva San Biagio, which is now the Pensione Bucintoro at No. 2135 Castello. There he joined several American art students, followers of Frank Duveneck (1848-1919), including Otto Henry Bacher (1856-1909) and Robert Frederick Blum (1857-1903). His room looked across the lagoon to left, and the Riva degli Schiavoni to right. Immediately in front was the Campo San Biagio. The Steamboat, Venice, shows a paddle-steamer setting off from the Riva towards the Lido. In the distance is the Giudecca Canal, and the domes of Santa Maria della Salute, all reversed in the print. 4 A similar view is seen in Upright Venice [232].
4: Grieve 2000, p.123.