Street at Saverne

1858

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.

Artwork Details

Title: Street at Saverne
Series/Portfolio: French Set ("Douze eau-fortes d'apres Nature" 1858) and Winans Scrapbook
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
Date: 1858
Medium: Etching and open bite or sandpaper ground, printed on ivory chine on off-white wove paper (chine collé); third state of four (Glasgow)
Dimensions: Plate: 8 3/16 x 6 1/4 in. (20.8 x 15.8 cm)
Sheet: 9 7/16 × 7 5/8 in. (24 × 19.3 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of Margaret C. Buell, Helen L. King, and Sybil A. Walk, 1970
Object Number: 1970.121.75
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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The artist's butterfly in an enlarged version with a forked tail

James McNeill Whistler

19th century

Reading, James McNeill Whistler American, Lithograph with scraping; printed in black ink on grayish chine mounted on ivory wove paper; fourth state of four (Chicago) — Reading
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Windsor (Memorial), James McNeill Whistler American, Drypoint; third state of four (Glasgow); printed in dark brown ink on ivory laid paper — Windsor (Memorial)
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Early Morning, James McNeill Whistler American, Lithotint with scraping, on a prepared half-tint ground, printed in black ink on cream wove paper; third state of four (Chicago) — Early Morning
James McNeill Whistler
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