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Collections

James McNeill Whistler
The Rialto1879/1880

Not on view
Etching of a bustling Italian street scene with tall buildings, awnings, a staircase receding into the distance, and scattered figures, in fine brown-black lines on cream paper

James McNeill Whistler, The Rialto, 1879/1880, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Julius L. and Anita Zelman Collection, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Artist or Maker
James McNeill Whistler
Title
The Rialto
Place Made
United States
Date Made
1879/1880
Medium
Etching and drypoint
Dimensions
Image and sheet: 11 1/2 x 7 7/8 in. (29.21 x 20 cm)
Credit Line
The Julius L. and Anita Zelman Collection
Accession Number
M.84.279.39
Classification
Prints
Collecting Area
Prints and Drawings
Curatorial Notes

From the exhibition Whistler and Venice
January 29-May 28, 2003

Whistler wrote to his mother from Venice: “The people with their gay gowns and handkerchiefs--and the many tinted buildings for them to lounge against or pose before, seem to exist especially for one's pictures and to have no other reason for being!” Here he avoids the quintessential view of the famous Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal and instead depicts the busy street, the type of scene that captured his imagination.

Selected Bibliography
  • Fine, Ruth E. Drawing Near: Whistler Etchings from the Zelman Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984.