In 1879, James Whistler accepted a three-month commission for a series of twelve etched views of Venice; he stayed fourteen months and created fifty etched compositions. Etched, hand inked, and printed by Whistler, each impression in this series is considered a monotype—a unique print handled and approved by the artist himself. Whistler’s fingerprints can be seen in the upper right quadrant of this impression. His elegant, spare aesthetic influenced many American artists, including Thomas Wilmer Dewing and John Twachtman, to adopt an aesthetic approach.