The Rialto
date: label: Date
content: 1879-1880
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Edition/State
content: 2nd
label: Label
content: Hounded by creditors, the bankrupt Whistler fled to Venice in 1879 to start rebuilding his finances. In this Italian etching, the artist took care to spell out a butcher shop’s sign reading “Vendita Carna,” or “flesh for sale.” His viewers may or may not have understood this sly reference to Shylock’s demand for “a pound of flesh” in exchange for an ill-advised loan in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (1596–98).
label: Label
content: Whistler etchings are identified by "G" numbers as assigned in "James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonn&‌eacute;," by Margaret F. McDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock (University of Glasgow, 2012), http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk. This print is G199 state 2 of 3.
label: Provenance
content: To 1887
label: Provenance
content: M. Knoedler & Co., New York. [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1887 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from M. Knoedler & Co., New York in 1887. [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer.
label: Provenance
content: [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Bill of Sale dated November 11, 1887 in the Charles Lang Freer Papers, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. At the time of this sale, M. Knoedler & Co. was located in New York City, later the gallery opened branches in London and Paris. See also Curatorial Remark 4 in the object record.
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 of Art.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change (November 18, 2023 to May 4, 2024)
label: Exhibition History
content: Fine Impressions: Whistler, Freer, and Venice (October 18, 2014 to January 3, 2016)
label: Exhibition History
content: Mr. Whistler's Galleries: Avant-garde in Victorian London, 1883 (November 20, 2003 to April 4, 2004)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: M. Knoedler & Co. (1846-2011) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: United States
topic: label: Topic
content: etching (printing process)
label: Topic
content: United States
label: Topic
content: American Art
label: Topic
content: store front
label: Topic
content: city
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: F1887.22
objectType: label: Type
content: Print
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Etching; ink on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (overall): 29.5 x 20 cm (11 5/8 x 7 7/8 in)