Venice: Sunset on Harbour
date: label: Date
content: 1880
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Label
content: Most of the Venice pastels are on brown paper. Only six, including this one, are on gray paper. It was drawn from a spot near the public gardens, not far from the Casa Jankovitz, the hotel where Whistler lived during the summer and fall of 1880. Like the other five Venice pastels on gray paper, Venice: Sunset on Harbour was probably drawn near the end of Whistler's stay in Venice.
label: Provenance
content: To 1905
label: Provenance
content: Thomas Way Sr. (1827-1915), London, or Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), London, to 1905 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1905 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Thomas Way Sr. or Thomas Robert Way in 1905 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] According to Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record. See further, Whistler Reserved List, R. 5805, as well as List of Whistler Paintings, etc., Transferred to S.I. on January 3, 1921, pg. 1, and paintings, pg. 28, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: Thomas Way Sr. and his son, Thomas Robert Way, were lithographers who worked closely with Whistler on several of his projects. They helped with the printing of his etchings, as well as the printing of Whistler’s promotional materials. Both Thomas Way Sr. and Thomas Robert Way owned many Whistler works. Thomas Way Sr. acquired several of these works at the time of Whistler’s bankruptcy, and he passed some of them on to his son (see The Correspondence of James McNeill Whistler, 1855-1903, ed. Margaret F. MacDonald, Patricia de Montfort and Nigel Thorp, On-line Edition, People, biographies of Thomas Way and Thomas Robert Way; http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence).
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer acquired many Whistler pieces from the Ways. However, museum records do not always specify whether it was the younger or elder Way who was the source of a particular object. Further, archival sources indicate that the junior Way sometimes acted on behalf of his father: whilst negotiating the sale of his own Whistler works to C.L. Freer, he would concurrently negotiate the sale of some of his father’s Whistler works to Freer. In cases where it is unclear whether it was the junior or senior Way who actually owned a piece acquired by C.L. Freer, the provenance record will simply state that the object was purchased from “Thomas Way Sr. or Thomas Robert Way.”
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler in Venice: The Pastels (January 19 to June 15, 2003)
label: Exhibition History
content: James McNeill Whistler Pastels, Etchings, Paintings, Watercolors (November 11, 1976 to June 24, 1977)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: United States
topic: label: Topic
content: boat
label: Topic
content: sunset
label: Topic
content: United States
label: Topic
content: American Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1905.330a-b
objectType: label: Type
content: Drawing
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Pastel on gray paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 16 x 25.5 cm (6 5/16 x 10 1/16 in)