UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

Etchings         Institutions search term: mclean

Stables

Impression: Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Estampes et de la photographie
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Estampes et de la photographie
(Rés EC 123 Folio 3)
Number: 228
Date: 1879/1880
Medium: drypoint
Size: 167 x 236 mm
Signed: no
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 3
Known impressions: 2
Catalogues: K.225; M.222; W.198
Impressions taken from this plate  (2)

KEYWORD

arch, boat, bridge, building, canal, figure, gondola.

TITLE

Variations in the title are as follows:


'Stables' (1883, Fine Art Society). 1
'Stables' (1899, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 2
'Stables - Venice' (1890/1892, Beatrice Whistler (1857-1896)). 3
'The Stables' (1900, Caxton Club). 4
'The Little Archway; Venice' (1903/1935, possibly Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958)). 5


The original title, 'Stables' is preferred. It refers to the broad arched entrance where boats are tethered, like horses. Miss Birnie Philip's title is descriptive but does not appear in any of Whistler's records.

1: London FAS 1883 (cat. no. 35).

2: Wedmore 1899 (cat. no. 198).

3: List, [1890/1892], GUW #12715.

4: Chicago 1900 (cat. no. E176) 'The Stables'.

5: Envelope containing copper plate, University of Glasgow.

DESCRIPTION

A view along a canal and under an arched bridge to the corner where two buildings meet. There are figures on the left by the side of the canal and in a boat, and in a dark archway that dominates the centre of the scene. A man stands in the prow or just behind a boat moored in front of the broad arched entrance. At the back left of the dark interior is a narrow many-paned window. To left of the entrance is a closed arched window with a semicircular lunette; shuttered windows appear above. To right, nearer the viewer, is another arched doorway, with steps down to the canal.

SITE

Comparative image
'Stables', 2005.
Photograph©M.F. MacDonald, Whistler Etchings Project.
The city of Venice, Italy. Grieve suggested that this is the basin in front of the Palazzo Soranzo where the Rio de Palazzo and Rio San Zulian meet. It is in the area behind San Marco, which Whistler explored by gondola. 6 This view, drawn accurately on the copper plate, is reversed, as usual, in the print.

6: Grieve 2000 , p. 98, fig.112.