Street at Saverne

James McNeill Whistler American

Not on view

After visiting the Alsatian town of Saverne in the summer of 1858, Whistler produced his first etched "Noctunre." Sharp recession heightens the irregular forms of old buildings, with a gas lantern hanging at right casting deep shadows. The choice of paper and "artistic" inking, carried out by the leading Parisian printer Auguste Delâtre, enhance the effect. Whistler included this work in his first published set, "Douze eaux-fortes d’après nature" (Twelve Etchings from Nature), which he always referred to as the "French Set." This impression belonged to Thomas Winans, a Baltimore friend who financed the artist's move to Paris in 1855; Winans kept the print in an album that descendants gave to the Museum.

Street at Saverne, James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London), Etching and open bite or sandpaper ground, printed on ivory chine on off-white wove paper (chine collé); third state of four (Glasgow)

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