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The Little Lagoon |  Hunterian Art Gallery (46798) | |
| Number: | 216 | |
| Date: | 1879/1880 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 226 x 152 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at lower right | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | 'First Venice Set', 1880 | |
| No. of States: | 4 | |
| Known impressions: | 58 | |
| Catalogues: | K.186; M.183; W.152 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (58) | ||
KEYWORD
gondola, lagoon, port, sailing boat, sea, vista.
TITLE
There are no real variations in the title, except for adding or omitting 'The', as in the following examples:
'The Little Lagoon ' (1880, Fine Art Society). 1
'The Little Lagoon' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 2
'Little Lagoon' (1887/1888, Whistler). 3
Clearly 'The Little Lagoon' is the generally accepted title.
'The Little Lagoon ' (1880, Fine Art Society). 1
'The Little Lagoon' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 2
'Little Lagoon' (1887/1888, Whistler). 3
Clearly 'The Little Lagoon' is the generally accepted title.
1: [1 December 1880], GUW #12667.
2: Wedmore 1886 A (cat. no. 152).
3: List, [1887/1888], GUW #13233.
DESCRIPTION
In the left foreground are two posts set in the lagoon, and further away are others, the briccole that mark routes across the Venetian lagoon. Farther away, at the right, a gondolier is rowing a gondola, and other gondolas are scattered across the water. Beyond this, in the centre, a small two-masted sailing boat is moored. In the distance, at the left, is a low headland with buildings on it, and with a ship and a second two-masted boat by the shore.
SITE
In Venice, 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 to south and west across the lagoon to the island of San Clemente. 4
4: Grieve 2000 , pp. 123-124.