Campo Sta. Marta—Winter Evening
James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
1879-1880
Classification
Drawing
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Accession Number
F1917.7a-b
Tags
American ArtCharles Lang Freer collectionUnited Statesnightwinter
About this artwork
Several progressive reviewers defended the sketchiness of Whistler's Venice pastels. Writing in the British Architect, E. W. Godwin admitted that "some of the drawings at first sight look like slight scribbles in blue, white, and black on brown or grey paper, just as if made in a moment to jot down a passing effect," but insisted that what appears "slight is the evident outcome of much thought, the scribble has no scribbling in it, and the colour is often attained by interweaving other colours, ...