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Venice

Impression: Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art
(1904.294)
Number: 213
Date: 1879/1880
Medium: etching
Size: 200 x 293 mm
Signed: no
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 1
Known impressions: 4
Catalogues: K.231; M.228
Impressions taken from this plate  (4)

KEYWORD

boat, canal, fishing boats, gondola, lagoon, palace, panorama, riva, ship, sailing ship.

TITLE

It has only been known by one title:

'Venice' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 1

All later cataloguers use this title. Considering that there are some fifty more etchings of Venice, the title is rather unhelpful. However, there are rather a lot of etchings that show this view, so defining the view does not really help either, and since no other print is actually called 'Venice', there is no point in changing it.

1: Wedmore 1886 A[more] (cat. no. 361).

DESCRIPTION

In the distance is the entrance to the Grand Canal, with Santa Maria della Salute in the centre, and on the left, the Doge's palace. Along the quayside are boats with half-lowered sails and, in the distance, tall ships with sails furled. A fishing boat is at sail to the right, and a couple of gondolas to the left, among the poles (brichole) that indicate routes through the shallow waters of the lagoon.

SITE

The Venetian lagoon from the Riva degli Schiavoni, looking towards the Grand Canal and, on the right, the Giudecca canal (reversed as usual in the printing), with the Doge's Palace on the left, and the domes of Santa Maria della Salute to right of centre.