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The Venetian Mast |  Art Institute of Chicago (1934.536) | |
| Number: | 219 | |
| Date: | 1879/1880 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 344 x 166 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at left (6-final) | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | 'First Venice Set', 1880 | |
| No. of States: | 12 | |
| Known impressions: | 57 | |
| Catalogues: | K.195; M.192; W.160 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (57) | ||
PUBLICATION
EXHIBITIONS
'The Mast and the Little Mast are dependent for much of their interest, on the drawing of festoons of cord hanging from unequal heights.' Whistler quoted this excerpt in the catalogue for a second Venice etching exhibition in 1883, adding the marginal 'Reflection' : 'At the service of critics of unequal sizes.' 18
15: London FAS 1880 .
16: 'Mr. Whistler's etchings ...', British Architect, 10 December 1880 (GUL PC 4/19).
17: Anon., unidentified press-cutting, [December 1880], GUL PC 4/15.
18: London FAS 1883 (cat. no. 36).
), at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1881, and, lent by Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904), among views of Venice at the Union League Club in New York in 1881 (). 19
It appeared in print dealer's shows, at Dunthorne's in London in 1890, at H. Wunderlich & Co. in New York in 1898 (possibly
, ) and 1903, Obach & Co. in London in 1903, and an impression from the collection of William George Rawlinson (1840-1928) was shown by F. Keppel & Co. in New York in 1904. 20
It was not shown at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 because, as Howard Mansfield (1849-1938) explained, 'there were no frames of the right size for "Finette" or "The Mast", or "Cameo No. 1"'. 21 However, an impression was lent by Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) to the show organised by the Caxton Club in Chicago in 1900 (
). 22 One was shown at the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1901, lent by James Cox-Cox (ca 1849- d.1901), and perhaps the same one at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1904. 23
Other impressions were shown at the Whistler Memorial Exhibitions in Boston in 1904, lent by Howard Mansfield; at the Grolier Club in New York in 1904; in Paris and London in 1905, and, lent by Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), Rotterdam in 1906 (
). 24
19: New York 1881 (cat. nos. 156-167)
20: New York 1898 (cat. no. 139). See REFERENCES: EXHIBITIONS.
21: 15 May 1893, GUW #00402.
22: Chicago 1900 (cat. no. 141).
23: Glasgow 1901 (cat. no. 220); Edinburgh 1904 (cat. no. 555)
24: Boston 1904 (cat. no. 128); New York 1904a (cat. no. 162b); Rotterdam 1906 (cat. no. 37).
SALES & COLLECTORS
). Most impressions were sold by the Fine Art Society, or to print dealers, possibly on commission from the F.A.S. Alphonse Wyatt Thibaudeau (ca 1840- d.1892), for instance, sold a set of etchings in 1882 including 'Strasse in Venedig' to the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin (). 25
Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924) bought a set including this etching from H. Wunderlich & Co. in 1890 (). British collectors included Henry Studdy Theobald (1847-1934) (
) and Arthur Haythorne Studd (1863-1919), who bequeathed his impression to the British Museum (). An impression from the collection of the late Joshua Hutchinson Hutchinson (ca 1829 - d.1891) was sold at Sotheby’s 3 March 1892 (lot 255) and bought by Thomas Way (1837-1915) for £2.5.0, but has not been identified.25: Inventory books, Kupferstichkabinett Berlin.
Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) bought impressions from H. Wunderlich & Co. in 1898 (
, ), from Frederick Keppel & Co. in 1894 () and 1902 (), and a later state from E. Gottschalk (dates unknown) in 1908 (). Other American collectors included Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904), who owned it by 1881 (); Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916), who owned one by 1900 (); J.L Claghorn (d. 1882) (); Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919) () and Margaret Selkirk Watson Parker (1867-1936) ().