La Mère Gérard

1858

Not on view

La Mère Gérard is said to have sold flowers outside the Bal Bullier in Paris, but Whistler shows her holding a shawl or piece of cloth in an unidealized portrayal that demonstrates admiration for the realism espoused by Courbet. The artist made the etching in Paris in the summer or fall of 1858 and included it in his first published set, "Douze eau-fortes d'apres Nature" ("Twelve Etchings from Nature"), known 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: La Mère Gérard
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 on tan chine on off-white wove paper (chine collé); fourth state of four (Glasgow)
Dimensions: plate: 5 x 3 1/2 in. (12.7 x 8.9 cm)
sheet: 6 1/8 x 4 1/2 in. (15.6 x 11.4 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of Margaret C. Buell, Helen L. King, and Sybil A. Walk, 1970
Object Number: 1970.121.74
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
James McNeill Whistler
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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)
James McNeill Whistler
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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
1878

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