Signed with artist's monogram ('butterfly') on plate.
Watermark: large chaplet
Literature: Kennedy, No.191, between the third and the fourth state of six;
Glasgow 233, V/IX.
Sale Catalogue, C.G. Boerner and Harris Schrank Fine Prints, James McNeil Whistler. Etchings and Lithographs, New York, October 2007, n. 22, illustrated p. 47.
Provenance: Boerner and Harris Schrank Fine Prints, New York
Glasgow records 59 other known impressions.
Whistler arrived in Venice in September 1879. He was active there from October 1879 to October 1880, returning to London the following month.
The print was published in Venice, A Series of Twelve Etchings (the First Venice Set) by the Fine Art Society, London, in 1880. This set was widely exhibited.
The scene illustrates the courtyard of the Ca' da Mosto, north of the Rialto Brige.
"The early, fully shaded butterfly mark indicates that this is a proof impression before the edition, quite possibly printed in Venice before Whistler's return to London" (Boerner 2007, n.22).
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