Provenance
Cyril Flower (1843-1907), the first Lord Battersea. from 1881. John H. Wrenn (1840-1911), Chicago; by descent to Harold Brent Wrenn (1878-1938); by descent to John Henry Wrenn (1913-1981); to his wife, Mrs. J.H. Wrenn, to 1981 [all provenance is MacDonald 1995]; sold, Parke-Bernet, New York, December 2, 1982, lot 10, to The Warner Collection of Gulf States Paper Corporation, Tuscaloosa, Ala., to at least 1994 [MacDonald 1995]. Sold, Christie's, New York, May 26, 1999. Sold by Fine Art Society, London, to the Art Institute, 2002.
Accession Number
158382
Medium
Pastel and black chalk on brown wove paper with fibrous inclusions
Dimensions
30.1 × 14.9 cm (11 7/8 × 5 7/8 in.)
Classification
pastel
Credit Line
Walter Aitken, Margaret Day Blake, Harold Joachim Memorial, Celia and David Hilliard, Julius Lewis, and Sara R. Shorey endowments; Sandra L. Grung Fund; purchased with funds provided by William Vance and Pamela Kelley Armour; through prior acquisitions of Katherine Kuh
Background & Context
Background Story
James McNeill Whistler's Corte del Paradiso (1880) is a pastel and black chalk drawing on brown wove paper with fibrous inclusions, depicting a courtyard or alleyway in Venice. The title refers to the Corte del Paradiso, a courtyard in Venice. Whistler spent extended periods in Venice in 1879-80, producing a remarkable series of etchings and pastels that captured the city's unique beauty with a new freedom and economy. This pastel shows the courtyard with its characteristic architecture, the pastel medium allowing for soft, luminous effects of color and light that capture the particular quality of Venetian atmosphere. The brown wove paper with its fibrous inclusions provides a warm, textured ground. Whistler's pastels of Venice are among the most beautiful works of his career, capturing the city's beauty with a freshness and immediacy that distinguishes them from the more conventional tourist views of the period. Corte del Paradiso is a masterwork of the pastel medium, demonstrating Whistler's ability to translate the unique light and color of Venice into a composition of extraordinary refinement.
Cultural Impact
Whistler's Venetian pastels represent a high point in his career, capturing the beauty of the city with a freedom and economy that influenced the development of modern landscape painting.
Why It Matters
This pastel of a Venetian courtyard captures the unique light and atmosphere of Venice, Whistler's delicate handling of the pastel medium creating an image of extraordinary refinement and beauty.
