The Beggars
Throughout his career, Whistler used vertical compositions to explore dark spaces that recede towards distant lights. In Venice, he found a suitable site at the Sotoportego e Corte de le Carozze, a stone passage with a timbered roof giving access to the Campo Santa Margarita. Whistler took great pains with the succession of figures that establish the receding darkness. At the entrance a gaunt woman with a baby, accompanied by a girl, stands and begs. Within the passage, two female water carriers approach a man wearing a cloak and broad-brimmed hat who walks away, his form silhouetted against the light. By choosing recognizable Venetian types, the artist flirted with the visual vocabulary of genre prints, but avoided any emotional connection with his subjects. This print was included in Venice, a Series of Twelve Etchings (the "First Venice Set"), published by the Fine Art Society in December 1880.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Beggars
- 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 heavy ivory wove paper; seventh state of seventeen (Glasgow)
- Dimensions: Plate: 11 15/16 × 8 1/4 in. (30.3 × 21 cm)
Sheet: 12 5/16 × 8 13/16 in. (31.2 × 22.4 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
- Object Number: 17.3.95
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
19th century
James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
1879
James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
1879
James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
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James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
1878
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