Greenwich Pensioner

1859

Not on view

Whistler studied etching in London under the tutelage of his brother-in-law, Sir Francis Seymour Haden and in 1859 they visited Greenwich Park together, each making a print that depicts a resident of the nearby Royal Hospital for Seamen, a boarding house for ex-sailors. Brisk line work and careful shading depict sunlight flickering across the pensioner’s shirt, hat, and wrinkled pant legs. Focusing on the figure, Whistler eliminates the surrounding landscape that Haden emphasized in Sub Tegmine (Benath the Canopy, 17.3.276). Printmakers associated with the etching revival sought an expressive spontaneity akin to drawing in their works.

Artwork Details

Title: Greenwich Pensioner
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
Date: 1859
Medium: Etching, printed in black ink on fine fibrous dark ivory laid Japan paper; second state of two (Glasgow)
Dimensions: Plate: 3 3/4 x 5 1/4 in. (9.5 x 13.3 cm)
Sheet: 7 5/8 × 10 3/8 in. (19.3 × 26.3 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
Object Number: 17.3.27
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

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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