A Quiet Canal

Ernest David Roth, A Quiet Canal, 1905, etching on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Katz, 1971.386
Copied Ernest David Roth, A Quiet Canal, 1905, etching on paper, plate: 4 12 × 9 18 in. (11.3 × 23.2 cm) sheet: 7 34 × 12 58 in. (19.7 × 32.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Katz, 1971.386

Artwork Details

Title
A Quiet Canal
Date
1905
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
plate: 4 12 × 9 18 in. (11.3 × 23.2 cm) sheet: 7 34 × 12 58 in. (19.7 × 32.1 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Katz
Mediums Description
etching on paper
Classifications
Keywords
  • Cityscape — Italy — Venice
  • Waterscape — canal
Object Number
1971.386

Artwork Description

When Venice launched an international art exposition series in 1895, now called the Venice Biennale, organizers classified prints as a separate category of art. Fine etchings and aquatints appeared in specially designated "Bianco-Nero" (Black and White) sections of the fair during its early decades. Ernest David Roth exhibited two prints depicting Venice at the 1907 Biennale, burnishing his career and reputation. Like many printmakers of his generation, his etchings express appreciation for the innovative style and subject choices of James Whistler's Venetian series. Here Roth provides a crisp rendering of the gondola's reflections to convey the stillness of the water and the silence of Venice's less-frequented zones.

Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano, 2021.