UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

balcony, building, bridge, canal, gondola, people.

Small variations in the title are seen in the following examples:


'PONTE DEL PIOVAN / DETTO DEL VOLTO' (1880, Whistler). 1
'Ponte Piovan' (1883, F.A.S.). 2
'Ponte del Piovan' (1886, Whistler). 3
'Ponte Piovan' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 4
'Ponte Piovan' (1890/1891, Whistler). 5
'Ponte del Piovan' . (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 6


Thus 'Ponte del Piovan' is Whistler's original title and is generally accepted.

A bridge of masonry supported by timber-work spans a narrow canal. There are several figures on the bridge, one standing, one leaning and one sitting in the middle, and one leaning on the parapet below a sign on the wall of a low building at right: 'PONTE DEL PIOVAN / DETTO DEL VOLTO'. Behind the bridge, on either side, rise three- and four-storey buildings. Beyond the bridge, the canal appears to split, and on the corner facing the viewer is a large house with an open wooden balcony projecting at left above a low roof. At the base of this building, as seen through the arch of the bridge, is an arcade opening onto the canal, with figures by the wall in front of it. Where the canal curves away to right there is a glimpse of another bridge. There are reflections in the canal.

Ponte del Piovan, 1995.
Photograph©M.F. MacDonald, Whistler Etchings Project.

Ponte del Piovan, Venice, Italy. The bridge has been rebuilt several times, but the view is still remarkably unchanged. The etching was drawn from a gondola, looking north down the Rio de Ca' Widmann to the Ponte del Piovan detto del Volto, with the Palazzo Widmann beyond. This view, drawn accurately on the copper plate, is reversed, as usual, in the print.

The view was popular with artists, partly because a house on the left was said to be where Titian died. Nearby Whistler etched Venetian Court 189 and Gondola under a Bridge 227. 7