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The Music Room

1859
Not on view
Whistler moved to London from Paris lin 1859. After publishing the "French Set" the previous November he continued to use etching to explore new visual effects. Here, a lamp-lit interior is occupied by his half-sister Deborah, brother-in-law Seymour Haden at left, and Haden's medical partner James Traer, all shown reading. They are in the Haden home on 62 Sloane Street in Chelsea. Comparing this second state of the etching to the first (MMA 18.1.18) demonstrates how Whistler began with forms almost swallowed by darkness, then lightened the overall effect.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Music Room
  • Artist: James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
  • Sitter: Deborah Delano Haden (American, 1825–1908)
  • Sitter: Sir Francis Seymour Haden (British, London 1818–1910 Bramdean, Hampshire)
  • Sitter: James Reeves Traer (British, ca. 1834–1867)
  • Date: 1859
  • Medium: Etching, printed in black ink on fine antique laid paper with a greenish cast; second state of four (Glasgow)
  • Dimensions: Plate: 5 11/16 x 8 1/2 in. (14.4 x 21.6 cm)
    Sheet: 9 13/16 × 15 1/4 in. (25 × 38.7 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.3.26
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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The artist's butterfly in an enlarged version with a forked tail
James McNeill Whistler
19th century
Study, James McNeill Whistler American, Lithograph with scraping, on a prepared half-tint ground; only state (Chicago); printed in brown ink on grayish wove paper
Study
James McNeill Whistler
1879
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
1879
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
1887
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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