The Riva, No. 1 (The Riva)

1879–80

Not on view

The artist etched the Riva degli Schiavone from his room in the Casa Jankowitz in Venice. Traditional visual hierarchy is overturned and the foreground filled with a triangular expanse of open plaza. Paving stones are suggested with a few etched lines and the edges enlivened with pedestrians, moored boats, and gondolas. An arched bridge leads across a canal toward a curved bank lined with buildings, concluding in the tiny exclamation point of the Campanile. Whistler arrived in Venice in September 1879, commissioned by the Fine Art Society to prepare twelve etchings in three months, but returned to London in November 1880 with many more plates. This print was published in Venice, a Series of Twelve Etchings (the "First Venice Set") in December.

Artwork Details

Title: The Riva, No. 1 (The Riva)
Series/Portfolio: First Venice Set ("Venice: Twelve Etchings," 1880)
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
Date: 1879–80
Medium: Etching and drypoint, printed in black ink on medium weight ivory laid paper; fourth state of four (Glasgow)
Dimensions: Plate: 7 15/16 × 11 5/8 in. (20.1 × 29.6 cm)
Sheet: 8 3/8 × 11 3/4 in. (21.2 × 29.9 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
Object Number: 17.3.93
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By James McNeill Whistler

In the same medium

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The artist's butterfly in an enlarged version with a forked tail

James McNeill Whistler

19th century

Reading, James McNeill Whistler American, Lithograph with scraping; printed in black ink on grayish chine mounted on ivory wove paper; fourth state of four (Chicago) — Reading
James McNeill Whistler
1879

Windsor (Memorial), James McNeill Whistler American, Drypoint; third state of four (Glasgow); printed in dark brown ink on ivory laid paper — Windsor (Memorial)
James McNeill Whistler
1887

Early Morning, James McNeill Whistler American, Lithotint with scraping, on a prepared half-tint ground, printed in black ink on cream wove paper; third state of four (Chicago) — Early Morning
James McNeill Whistler
1878

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