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Scene on the Mersey

Not on view
Here, Whistler’s brushwork is wild and full of life. He used broad strokes to saturate the paper with free washes, then detailed the lighthouse and the figures in gouache with a fine point after the washes had dried. The technique relates to works dated 1883–84, though Whistler probably visited the Mersey—a river in northwest England—in the early 1870s while he was at Speke Hall (home of his patrons Mr. and Mrs. Frederick R. Leyland) and again in 1891 while he was hanging an exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Scene on the Mersey
  • Artist: James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Watercolor and gouache on white wove paper
  • Dimensions: 8 1/2 x 4 7/8 in. (21.6 x 12.4 cm)
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.97.4
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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