Venice: Sunrise on the Rialto (recto) and a Venetian Scene (verso)
date: label: Date
content: 1880
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Description
content: Buildings and boats across the water in pink and yellow, with a Venetian scene on the reverse.
label: Signatures
content: Unsigned.
label: Label
content: This pastel was drawn from the Casa Jankowitz, a hotel on the Riva degli Schiavoni, where Whistler stayed during the summer and fall of 1880. Whistler was not an early riser, and despite the drawings traditional title, it is a view looking west across the Bacino to the Salute at sunset.
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. 5806, as well as List of Whistler Paintings, etc., Transferred to S.I. on January 3, 1921, pg. 2, 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: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: United States
topic: label: Topic
content: sunrise
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: F1905.331a-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: 10.6 x 27 cm (4 3/16 x 10 5/8 in)