The Bridge, Santa Marta
1879–80
Medium
Etching and drypoint, printed in dark brownish-black ink on medium weight ivory laid paper; ninth state of nine (Glasgow)
Dimensions
Plate: 11 11/16 × 7 13/16 in. (29.7 × 19.9 cm) Sheet: 11 11/16 × 7 13/16 in. (29.7 × 19.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
Accession Number
17.3.105
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
James McNeill Whistler created *The Bridge, Santa Marta* during his productive stay in Venice from 187 to 1880. This etching captures a quiet scene along one of the city’s lesser-known canals, where a modest bridge spans the water amid everyday activity. The work belongs to Whistler’s celebrated series of Venetian prints, which helped redefine how artists approached urban landscapes in the late nineteenth century. Executed in etching and drypoint and printed in rich brownish-black ink, the image represents the ninth and final state of the plate. Whistler’s careful revisions across multiple st...
About the Artist
James McNeill Whistler · 1834–1903
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was an American-born painter and printmaker who became a leading figure in the Aesthetic Movement and pioneer of Tonalism and Japonisme. He revolutionized art by championing "art for art's sake" and treating paintings as visual equivalents of musical compositions, titling works as "arrangements," "harmonies," and "nocturnes" to emphasize formal qualities o...