The Garden

1879–80

Second Venice Set: The Garden, 1879–80. James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834–1903). Etching and drypoint; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph King 1923.31 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. This print is among the only ones in James McNeill Whistler's Second Venice Set without a clearly identifiable setting.