Venetian Water Carrier |  Freer Gallery of Art (1908.7) | |
| Number: | 197 | |
| Date: | 1879/1880 | |
| Medium: | drypoint | |
| Size: | 200 x 126 mm | |
| Signed: | no | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 3 | |
| Catalogues: | K.232; M.229 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (3) | ||
KEYWORD
figure, girl, worker.
TITLE
Whistler's original title is not known. Variations in punctuation are as follows:
'Venetian Water-Carrier' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 1
'Venetian Water Carrier' (1910, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 2
Mansfield's version, 'Venetian Water-Carrier' is preferred.
'Venetian Water-Carrier' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 1
'Venetian Water Carrier' (1910, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 2
Mansfield's version, 'Venetian Water-Carrier' is preferred.
1: Mansfield 1909, cat. no. 229.
2: Kennedy 1910, cat. no. 232.
DESCRIPTION
A young girl stands, walking forward, and looking down. She has very long hair and wears a long scarf about her shoulders. She carries a heavy bag or bucket in both hands: they look more like rectangular bags or baskets than round pails.
SITTER
Not identified. This is the only image of a single figure etched by Whistler in Venice. It is possible that the identification of the girl as a water-carrier is incorrect, and she is just shopping. Whistler also etched water-carriers in the background of The Beggars [190]. The women of Venice carried water in buckets strung from poles on their shoulders, as in the two woman at the far left of the passageway in The Beggars [190], reproduced below.
