Gondola under a Bridge |  Freer Gallery of Art (1905.202) | |
| Number: | 227 | |
| Date: | 1879/1880 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 295 x 201 mm | |
| Signed: | no | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 2 | |
| Known impressions: | 3 | |
| Catalogues: | K.227; M.224 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (3) | ||
KEYWORD
bridge, building, canal, gondola, house.
TITLE
Whistler's original title is not known. Minor variations on the title are as follows:
'A Quiet Canal' (1906, Otto Henry Bacher (1856-1909)). 1
'The Gondola under the Bridge' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 2
'Gondola under a Bridge' (1910, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 3
Bacher's title would cause confusion between this etching and Quiet Canal [224], so Kennedy's title, 'Gondola under a Bridge', has been preferred.
'A Quiet Canal' (1906, Otto Henry Bacher (1856-1909)). 1
'The Gondola under the Bridge' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 2
'Gondola under a Bridge' (1910, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 3
Bacher's title would cause confusion between this etching and Quiet Canal [224], so Kennedy's title, 'Gondola under a Bridge', has been preferred.
DESCRIPTION
A view down a narrow canal, with four-storey buildings on either side, and a steeply arched bridge with a high parapet crossing the canal in the middle distance. Under the bridge, at left, a gondola is moored. A row of columns support the arches of an open passageway at left, with steps leading down to the canal half-way along it.
SITE
The Ponte de la Panada in the city of Venice, Italy, seen from a gondola moored at the junction of the Rio de Ca' Widmann with the Rio de la Panada, looking north. 4 This view, drawn accurately on the copper plate, is reversed, as usual, in the print. Nearby Whistler etched Venetian Court [189], Ponte Piovan [220] and Quiet Canal [224].
4: Grieve 2000, pp. 89, 91, fig. 95.