UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

Riva, No. 2 was published by Messrs Dowdeswell and Alphonse Wyatt Thibaudeau (ca 1840- d.1892) with A Set of Twenty-six Etchings (the 'Second Venice Set') in 1886.

Whistler delivered in all 1093 prints and was paid £2.10.6 for printing each dozen prints. 17

It was first exhibited at the Fine Art Society galleries in Bond Street, London in 1883. In the exhibition catalogue designed and written by Whistler, he included quotes chosen from earlier reviews to complement his etchings. In the catalogue this etching, with its sharp focus, expressive line and topographical accuracy, was twinned with a comment from the St James's Gazette: 'In all his former Etchings he was careful to give a strong foundation of firm drawing. In these plates, however, he has cast aside this painstaking method.' 18 The full quotation from the St James's Gazette read as follows:

However, the critic selected Whistler's other view of the Riva degli Schiavoni, The Riva [229], for particular praise, writing:

Reviews of the same etching at the 1883 F.A.S. show were on the whole favourable:

Likewise, the often disapproving critic of the Saturday Review admired it: '"Riva No. 2" exhibits in a marked degree the artist's power of dealing with atmosphere ... and is full of life, go, and sunlight.' 22

Other print dealer's exhibitions commenced with those of H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, the first in 1883, based on Whistler's F.A.S. exhibition, followed by one in 1898, when the exhibit (reproduced above) was sold to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) (), and two further exhibitions in 1903. Other print dealer's shows included Obach & Co. in London in 1903 and F. Keppel & Co. in New York in 1902 and 1904.

It was shown - usually with the rest of the 'Second Venice Set' - in numerous international and major city exhibitions. These included the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, to which an impression was lent by John Caldwell (fl. 1887-1907), and exhibitions at Dresden in 1899, Buffalo in 1901 and Wolverhampton in 1902. 23 Impressions were lent by both Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) () and Freer ( or ) to an exhibition organised by the Caxton Club in Chicago in 1900. 24 James Cox-Cox (ca 1849- d.1901) lent to the Glasgow Internation Exhibition in 1901 and Howard Mansfield (1849-1938) lent to a show in Philadelphia in 1902. 25

After Whistler's death, other impressions were shown at the Whistler Memorial Exhibitions, at the Grolier Club in New York in 1904; at the Copley Society in Boston, also in 1904, lent again by Mansfield; in Paris; in London, lent by King Edward VII, in 1905; and in Rotterdam in 1906, lent by Ernest Marsh (fl. 1935). 26

The first recorded sale was on 28 August 1882 when Whistler sold an impression to the London print dealer, Thomas M. McLean (b. ca 1832), for £6.6.0. 27 He sold another on 12 September 1882 to Queen Victoria at the same price (). 28 After it was sold from the Royal Collection in 1906, through H. Wunderlich & Co. and Obach & Co., this impression was bought by Margaret Selkirk Watson Parker (1867-1936).

From 1886 most impressions were sold by Messrs Dowdeswell and Alphonse Wyatt Thibaudeau (ca 1840- d.1892). In 1887 they gave a complete 'Second Venice Set' to the British Museum (). Dowdeswell's sold either directly to collectors or through other dealers. Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), for instance, bought one from Frederick Keppel & Co. in 1887 (). Thibaudeau sold one through Gustave Lauser (b. ca 1841) to H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, in May 1888, as part of an album of the 'Second Venice Set' for £52.10.0 and this was bought by Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924) in 1890 ().

Other early collectors included Henry Studdy Theobald (1847-1934) (), George Aloysius Lucas (1824-1909) (), Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) () and Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) ().

Although the publishers had exclusive rights for the sale of the published edition, Whistler was free to sell the early 'printer's proofs' of different states, and it was presumably these he was selling in the 1890s. On 18 April 1893 Whistler sold an impression to the Fine Art Society for £6.6.0. 29 Finally he sold one on 20 April 1903 to another London print dealer, Robert Dunthorne (b. ca 1851) for £12.12.0. 30 At his death shortly afterwards there were still two in the studio, one early and one cancelled, which were bequeathed to Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) and passed by her to the University of Glasgow (, ).

Prices at auction varied considerably. In 1888 a 'Riva', which may have been this etching (or possibly The Riva [229]), failed to make its reserve price. 31 However, an impression sold from the collection of the late Joshua Hutchinson Hutchinson (ca 1829 - d.1891) was bought by Dunthorne for a good price, £5.15.0, in 1892. 32 For comparison, a complete set, 'Venice, Second Series' 'in a folio' Mrs Edward Fisher of Abbotsbury, Newton Abbot at Christie’s on 13-14 July 1897 (lot 316) was bought by Colnaghi's for £82.0.0. At the same sale Lot 303, 'The Riva' - again it is not absolutely certain it was this etching - was bought by Dunthorne for £8.18.6 (with Nocturne, Venice).

In 1898 P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London, sold one impression to the Königl. Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden for £14.14.0, and it was exhibited in Dresden in the following year. Freer was not content with one impression, and bought an impression from the collection of Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910) through Wunderlich's in 1898 () and an earlier impression from Obach & Co. in 1905 ().