The Beggars |  Art Institute of Chicago (1938.1862) | |
| Number: | 190 | |
| Date: | 1879/1880 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 307 x 212 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at upper left (1-3); replaced with new butterfly (4); redrawn (5-6); removed (8) | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | 'First Venice Set', 1880 | |
| No. of States: | 17 | |
| Known impressions: | 57 | |
| Catalogues: | K.194; M.191; W.159 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (57) | ||
The Beggars dates from 1879. Whistler was in Venice from September 1879 to November 1880. It is likely that the etching was started in the autumn or early winter of 1879, when Whistler was living near the site (a courtyard off the Campo Santa Margherita), on the Calle San Barnaba.
It was published in Venice, a Series of Twelve Etchings (the 'First Venice Set') by the Fine Art Society, London, in 1880.