When he moved to London in 1859, Whistler lodged near the Thames in the docklands south of Tower Bridge and began to make etchings of the river. New visual modes are explored here, with cropped forms and distinct spatial zones recalling Japanese woodblock prints—a genre he began collecting in Paris. Borrowing an effect from photographs, he renders the distant warehouses in sharp focus but treats closer forms broadly. Made in 1859, this etching was not published until 1871 in A Series of Sixteen Etchings of Scenes on the Thames and Other Subjects (the "Thames Set"). That year, Whistler also reproduced it on the wall behind his mother in the now famous painting, Arrangement in Grey and Black (Musée d’Orsay, Paris).
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
Howard Mansfield A Descriptive Catalogue of the Etchings and Drypoints of James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Caxton Club, 1909, cat. no. 41.
Edward Guthrie Kennedy, Royal Cortissoz The Etched Work of Whistler: illustrated by reproductions in collotype of the different states of the plates. The Grolier Club, 1910, cat. no. 42 iii/iii.
Joseph Pennell Adventures of an Illustrator, mostly in following his authors in America & Europe. Boston, 1925, pp. 58-59.
From Realism to Symbolism: Whistler and his World: an exhibition. Organized by the Department of Art History and Archaeology of Columbia University in the City of New York in cooperation with the Philadelphia Museum of Art; March 3-April 4, Wildenstein, New York; April 15-May 23, Philadelphia Museum or Art. Allen Staley, Theodore Reff, New York, 1971, pl. 10 (impression at the Philadelphia Museum of Art), cat. no. 6, pp. 36-37.
Katharine A. Lochnan The Etchings of James McNeill Whistler. Ex. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, September 14–November 11, 1984; The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, November 24, 1984–January 13, 1985. Yale University Press, Art Gallery of Ontario, New Haven, 1984, cat. no. 45, pp. 81-83, 87, 89, 92, 95-96, 170, 224, 278.
Gordon Cooke James McNeill Whistler, The Embroidered Curtain. Exh. cat. The Fine Art Society, London, London, 2007, cat. no. 9, p. 21.
Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, Joanna Meacock James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné, University of Glasgow on-line website at http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk. University of Glasgow, 2012, cat. no. 54 iv/vi.
Elizabeth Jacklin The Art of the Print: Three Hundred Years of Printmaking. London, 2021, p. 68.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.
