Street in Venice
1882
Artist, American, 1856 - 1925

Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on wood
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 45.1 x 53.9 cm (17 3/4 x 21 1/4 in.)
framed: 65.41 × 76.2 × 7.62 cm (25 3/4 × 30 × 3 in.) -
Accession
1962.4.1
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Purchased 30 January 1888 by Elizabeth Chanler, Boston, at the St. Botolph Club Exhibition; given by her to Stanford White [1853-1906], New York, for professional services;[1] his wife, Mrs. Bessie Smith White [d. 1950], New York; their son, Lawrence Grant White [1887-1956], St. James, Long Island, New York; his wife, Mrs. Laura Astor Chanler White, St. James, Long Island, New York; purchased 1962 by NGA.
[1] (This note does not appear in the provenance published in the 1998 NGA systematic catalogue entry on the painting.) The early part of the provenance comes from letters and notes in NGA curatorial files. However, Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray, in their Sargent chronology for late October 1887, cite the following: "Stanford White hosts a dinner at which Sargent is guest of honor. Sargent offers [James Carroll] Beckwith his choice of two Venetian studies as a wedding gift. Beckwith chooses Venetian Bead Stringers (Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo), and Sargent gives A Street in Venice (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC) to Stanford White." (See Ormond and Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent: The Early Portraits, New Haven and London, 1998: xvii.)
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1882
Société Internationale des Peintres et Sculpteurs, Première Exposition, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1882-1883, no. 99, as Une Rue à Venise.
1888
Sixty-third Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, April-May 1888, no. 213, as Venetian Street.
John Singer Sargent's Paintings, St. Botolph Club, Boston, January 1888, no cat.
Sixteenth Annual Exhibition, Art Gallery of the Inter-State Industrial Exposition, Chicago, September-October 1888, no. 378, as Sketch of Venetian Life.
1892
New York Columbian Celebration of the Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Discovery of America. Catalogue of the Loan Exhibition. National Academy of Design, New York, October 1892, no. 3, as Venice.
Retrospective Exhibition, Society of American Artists, New York, December 1892, no. 276, as Venetian Scene.
1899
Sargent Loan Exhibition, Paintings and Sketches by John S. Sargent, The Copley Society of Boston, Copley Hall, Boston, 1899, no. 36.
1901
Exhibition of Fine Arts, Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, 1901, no. 30.
1917
Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by John Singer Sargent for the Benefit of the American Ambulance Hospital in Paris, The Copley Gallery, Boston, 1917, no. 9, as Venice.
1924
Retrospective Exhibition of Important Works of John Singer Sargent, Grand Central Art Galleries, New York, February-March 1924, no. 39.
Paintings by John Singer Sargent, Art Institute of Chicago, April-June 1924, no catalogue.
1925
Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the Late John Singer Sargent, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1925, no. 71.
1926
Memorial Exhibition of the Work of John Singer Sargent, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1926, no. 13, repro.
1947
A Century of Centurion Art, The Century Club, New York, 1947, unnumbered checklist.
1951
The American Tradition 1800-1900, National Academy of Design, New York, 1951, no. 125.
1964
The Private World of John Singer Sargent, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Cleveland Museum of Art; Worcester Art Museum; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1964-1965, no. 16.
1969
In Memoriam, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, unnumbered checklist.
1997
Uncanny Spectacle: The Public Career of the Young John Singer Sargent, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1997, no. 18, repro.
1998
John Singer Sargent, Tate Gallery, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1998-1999, not in cat. (shown only in Washington).
2000
Rave Reviews: American Art and Its Critics, 1826-1925, National Academy of Design, New York; Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa; Indianapolis Museum of Art, 2000-2001, no. 51, repro. (shown only in New York).
2003
Sargent's Women, Adelson Galleries, Inc., New York, 2003, no. 17, repro.
Whistler and His Circle in Venice, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Grolier Club, New York, 2003, no. 87, repro. (shown only in Washington).
2007
Sargent's Venice, Adelson Galleries, Inc., New York; Museo Correr, Venice, 2007, no. 47, repro.
2008
Venice: From Canaletto and Turner to Monet, Fondation Beyeler, Basel, 2008-2009, unnumbered catalogue, repro.
2018
John Singer Sargent and Chicago's Gilded Age, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 2018, no.12, repro.
Bibliography
1925
Downes, William Howe. John S. Sargent: His Life and Work. Boston, 1925: 30, 143-144.
1927
Charteris, Evan. John Sargent. New York: Scribner's, 1927, pp. 57, 163, 283.
1956
McKibbin, David. Sargent's Boston. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1956: 78.
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:496, color repro.
1969
Mount, Charles Merrill. John Singer Sargent: A Biography. Rev. ed. (originally published 1955). New York, 1969: 464.
1970
Ormond, Richard. John Singer Sargent: Paintings, Drawings, Watercolors. New York, 1970: 30, 238, pl. 20.
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 96, repro.
1980
Adelson, Warren. John Singer Sargent: His Own Work. New York: Coe Kerr Gallery, 1980, p. 32, fig. 14, no. 1229.
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 16, 120, repro.
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 219, repro.
1981
Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: repro. 142, 144.
1982
Ratcliff, Carter. John Singer Sargent. New York: Abbeville Press, 1982, p. 73, pl. 106.
1984
Lovell, Margaretta M. Venice: The American View, 1860-1920. Exh. cat. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1984: 97.
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 568, no. 865, color repro.
1986
Adelson, Warren. "John Singer Sargent and the 'New Painting'." Exh. cat. Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, 1986: 33, fig. 14.
Fairbrother, Trevor J. John Singer Sargent and America. New York, 1986: 48-49, fig. 12.
Ayres, Linda. "Sargent in Venice." In Hills, Patricia, et al. John Singer Sargent. Exh. cat. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1986: 56-61, fig. 35.
1988
Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 138, repro.
1989
Lovell, Margaretta M. A Visible Past: Views of Venice by American Artists 1860-1915. Chicago, 1989: 75-76, color pl. 6.
1990
Fairbrother, Trevor. "Sargent's Genre Paintings and the Issues of Suppression and Privacy." Studies in the History of Art 37 (1990): 33-34, repro. no. 4.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 330, repro.
1997
Simpson, Marc, Richard Ormond, and H. Barbara Weinberg. Uncanny Spectacle: The Public Career of the Young John Singer Sargent. Exh. cat. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts. New Haven and London, 1997: 108, repro.
1998
Torchia, Robert Wilson, with Deborah Chotner and Ellen G. Miles. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1998: 103-107, color repro.
Ormond, Richard, and Elaine Kilmurray. John Singer Sargent: Figures and Landscapes, 1874-1882. The Complete Paintings, Volume IV. New Haven and London, 2006: no. 808, repro.
Inscriptions
lower right: John S. Sargent
Wikidata ID
Q7623018