San Giovanni Apostolo et Evangelistae

A Renaissance doorway opens into a paged court across which the far side of the building is seen.

Maker(s)
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
Historical period(s)
1879-1880
Medium
Crayon and pastel on brown paper
Dimensions
H x W: 30 x 20.2 cm (11 13/16 x 7 15/16 in)
Geography
United States
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1902.145a-c
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Drawing
Type

Drawing

Keywords
United States
Provenance

To 1902
Sir William Burrell (1861-1958), to 1902 [1]

From 1902 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Sir William Burrell in 1902 [2]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

Notes:

[1] See Original Whistler List, Paintings, pg. 23, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[2] See note 1.

[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.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
Sir William Burrell 1861-1958

Description

A Renaissance doorway opens into a paged court across which the far side of the building is seen.

Label

A masterpiece of Venetian Renaissance architecture, San Giovanni Apostolo e Evangelista is a scuola (meeting-and prayerhouse) for one of the five great fraternities into which Venetians historically banded together. Whistler stood outside the scuola, using the famous fifteenth-century carved, marble entry-screen to frame the distant building.

Published References
  • Robert H. Getscher. Whistler and Venice. Ann Arbor. pl. 23.
  • Thomas Robert Way. Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the artist. London. opp. p. 52.
  • Margaret F. MacDonald. James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels, and Watercolours : A Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven, 1995. .
  • Albert Gallatin. Whistler: notes and footnotes and other memoranda. New York. p. 35.
  • Albert Gallatin. Whistler's art dicta and other essays. Boston. p. 35.
  • Charles Henry Caffin. The Art of James McNeill Whistler: Lecture at the Detroit Museum of Art. Detroit, Friday, April 23, 1909. p. 40.
  • Margaret F. MacDonald. Palaces in the Night: Whistler in Venice. Aldershot, Hampshire, England, 2001. p. 51, fig. 57.
  • David Park Curry. James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art. Washington and New York, 1984. p. 262, pl. 251.
  • Elizabeth Anne McCauley. Gondola Days: Isabella Stewart Gardner and the Palazzo Barbaro Circle. Exh. cat. Boston. p. 269, fig. 226.
Collection Area(s)
American Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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