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Nocturne, from Venice, a Series of Twelve Etchings (the "First Venice Set")

A work made of etching and drypoint in brown on cream laid paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of etching and drypoint in brown on cream laid paper.

Date:

1879–80

Artist:

James McNeill Whistler
American, 1834-1903

About this artwork

Whistler pursued the abstraction of conventional subjects like portraiture and landscape across a variety of media, including painting, drawing, etching, and lithography. In his etchings, perhaps especially those from his Venice period, he used the selective wiping of printing plates to create atmospheric effects while often obscuring the compositional elements. In this final state of Nocturne, Whistler depicted a wide stretch of water with the church of San Giorgio Maggiore in the distance at right and the domed roofline of Santa Maria della Salute at left. As in all printmaking processes, the image is reversed from how it was drawn on the plate. Whistler would have observed this view from the Riva degli Schiavoni.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

James McNeill Whistler

Title

Nocturne, from Venice, a Series of Twelve Etchings (the "First Venice Set")

Place

United States (Artist's nationality)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1879–1880

Medium

Etching and drypoint in brown on cream laid paper

Dimensions

Image, trimmed within platemark: 20.1 × 29.7 cm (7 15/16 × 11 3/4 in.); Sheet: 20.4 × 29.7 cm (8 1/16 × 11 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Bryan Lathrop Collection

Reference Number

1934.562

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/109193/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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