Artwork Page for The Garden

Details / Information for The Garden

Series Title: Second Venice Set

The Garden

1879–80

James McNeill Whistler

(American, 1834–1903)
Culture
America
Medium
etching and drypoint
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph King 1923.31
Catalogue raisonné
Kennedy 210; MacDonald 194
State
V/VIII
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

This print is among the only ones in James McNeill Whistler's Second Venice Set without a clearly identifiable setting.

Description

Part of an expatriate community in Venice, James McNeill Whistler focused on the city’s architectural details in the prints, drawings, and paintings that he made during a year spent living there. This etching presents a private garden from the perspective of one of the city’s distinctive canals. Seen through an open doorway, the view, offers a voyeuristic glimpse of its inhabitants’ lives. Situated outside and looking into a lush garden, the viewer is placed in the artist’s position, able to feel his excitement as an outsider exploring a new but historied place.
A vertically oriented etching and drypoint in muted brown tones depicts a scene framed by a large rectangular stone doorway. In the foreground, a man sits on a ledge facing our right, legs dangling. A cat rests on the steps behind him. Beyond, vines climb the facade toward arched windows. Three figures stand within a dark doorway in the distance. Atmospheric, sketchy lines define the weathered architecture and the figures positioned deep within the composition.

The Garden

1879–80

James McNeill Whistler

(American, 1834–1903)
America

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