John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné
An online catalogue by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Greenwich Historical Society
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Catalogue Entry

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Keywords
D.702
Sketch: A Canal
ca. 1885
Graphite on paper
6 5/8 x 9 13/16 in. (16.8 x 25 cm)
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Andrew Carnegie Fund (06.25.2)
Exhibitions
1945 Lyman Allyn Museum
Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, Connecticut, Work in Many Media by Men of the Tile Club, March 11–April 23, 1945, no. 156, as Sketch: A Canal.
Literature
Carnegie Institute 1912
Carnegie Institute. Lists of Paintings, Drawings, and Japanese Prints in the Permanent Collections of the Department of Fine Arts. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute, 1912, n.p. (no. 143), as Sketch: A Canal.
Hale 1957
Hale, John Douglass. "Life and Creative Development of John H. Twachtman." 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1957. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms, 1958, vol. 2, p. 585 (catalogue A, no. 923), as Sketch: A Canal. (Hale concordance).
Commentary

Twachtman's drawing method here demonstrates fluidity and precision along with a sense of convincing depth, elements reflecting the impact of his figural studies at the Académie Julian in Paris. There, from 1883 to 1885, he sought to make up for what he perceived to be a lack of drawing instruction during his earlier training in Munich. The work, in which two bridges cross a receding canal, was most likely rendered in Holland in the summer of 1885.