St. James's Street

James McNeill Whistler American

Not on view

Whistler's busy urban image focuses on a central London thoroughfare that connects Pall Mall and Piccadilly. The etching offers a view from the terrace of what was then the Albermarle Hotel on Piccadilly downhill towards St. James's Palace, a complex of Tudor buildings that gave the street and surrounding district their names. In the foreground a policeman stands, perhaps directing traffic, near awnings that shield shopfronts. The image reverses the orientation of the actual view and would be reissued as a lithograph—correctly oriented—in "Vanity Fair" on July 2, 1878 (see: 1985.1161.34). Today the street is home to several private clubs, including White's, Boodle's and Brooks's.

St. James's Street, James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London), Etching and drypoint, printed in black ink on ivory laid paper; fourth state of four (Glasgow)

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St. James's Street, James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London), Etching and drypoint, printed in black ink on ivory laid paper; fourth state of four (Glasgow)
St. James's Street, James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London), Etching and drypoint, printed in black ink on ivory laid paper; fourth state of four (Glasgow)
St. James's Street, James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London), Etching and drypoint, printed in black ink on ivory laid paper; fourth state of four (Glasgow)

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