Sotto Portico - San Giacomo (Primary Title)

James Abbott McNeill Whistler, American, 1834 - 1903 (Artist)

1879–80
American
Works On Paper
Drawings
pastel and charcoal on brown wove paper
Place Made,Italy,Venice
Unframed: 12 × 5 in. (30.48 × 12.7 cm)
Framed: 20 × 13 1/2 × 1 5/8 in. (50.8 × 34.29 × 4.13 cm)
2002.524

Innovative, controversial, and highly influential, James McNeill Whistler emerged at the forefront of Anglo-American Aestheticism in the 1870s. Nearly financially ruined from an infamous libel suit against the British art critic John Ruskin, Whistler traveled to Venice in 1879 on commission to produce a series of etchings. He returned to England the following year, reinvigorating his career with a portfolio of prints and drawings, including this lyrical pastel of one of Venice’s characteristic narrow passageways.

Signed, lower left, with artist's butterfly
On recto, pencil numbers showing original framing requirements
J. Harwood and Louise B. Cochrane Fund for American Art
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC

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