James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

Santa Maria della Salute, Venice

Details

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
Santa Maria della Salute, Venice
watercolor and gouache on paper
5 3/8 x 9 in. (13.7 x 22.9 cm.)
Executed circa 1879-80.

Provenance

[With]James Connell & Sons, Glasgow, Scotland.
B.B. MacGeorge, Glasgow, Scotland, by 1905.
Mrs. MacGeorge, Glasgow, Scotland.
[With]T & R Annan & Sons, Ltd., Glasgow, Scotland, sold by the above.
P & D Colnaghi & Co., Ltd., London, and Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York, acquired from the above, 1924.
Private collection, acquired from the above, 1924.
[With]M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Henderson, New Orleans, Louisiana, by 1959.
Christie's, London, 28 February 1975, lot 16, sold by the above.
Acquired by the late owner from the above.

Literature

E.R. Pennell, J. Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, vol. I, London, 1908, pp. 202, 269, illustrated.
E.R. Pennell, J. Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1911, opp. 260, illustrated.
E.L. Cary, The Works of James McNeill Whistler, New York, 1913, p. 216, no. 397 (as The Salute, Venice, from the Riva Schiavoni).
M.F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolors, A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven, Connecticut, 1995, p. 265, no. 725, illustrated.
E. Denker, Whistler and His Circle in Venice, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2003, p. 28, fig. 8, illustrated.

Exhibited

London, New Gallery, Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters, and Gravers, February 22-April 15, 1905, p. 95, no. 45 (as The Salute, Venice, from the Riva Schiavoni).
New Orleans, Louisiana, Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, Early Masters of Modern Art: A Local Collection, November-December 1959, no. 56.
London, The Arts Council of Great Britain; New York, M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., James McNeill Whistler, September 1-November 30, 1960, p. 79, no. 86 (as Venice--La Salute or From the Riva degli Schiavoni).
New Orleans, Louisiana, Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans Collects: Early Masters of Modern Art, November 2-December 15, 1968, no. 53.

Lot Essay

In 1879-80, James McNeill Whistler visited Venice on a commission from the Fine Art Society for a set of twelve etchings. A rare watercolor executed during this trip, the present work depicts Santa Maria della Salute, a magnificent Baldassare Longhena-designed church built to celebrate the end of the 1630-31 plague and completed in 1687. The view is from the piazzetta in front of San Marco, looking across the Grand Canal to the Salute.

For a group of reference works pertaining to James Abbott McNeill Whistler, see lot 185.

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