The little mast

Whistler, James McNeill, 1834-1903 · [1880]

At the farther end of a broad piazza, opening past a building on the right, stands a tall Venetian mast with halyards looped to the roof of one of a row of buildings at the left. Back of the mast, a balustrade bordering a canal leads to a bridge, beyond which the masts of a ship are seen. On the canal is a boat sail, and on the farther bank of the canal are buildings. In the foreground is a group of children. Two figures are seated by the wall of the building at the right. In front of the farthest building at the left is a group seated at a table, and there are other people about the piazza. There are light clouds in the sky. The butterfly, shaded, is on the upper part of the plate, near the right edge.