Pierrot

1889

Not on view

In an old district of Amsterdam, Whistler represents two figures emerging from a shadowed workshop at the edge of a canal. Leaning against a slender post, a young man clad in an apron looks across the water as his female companion dips a cloth into it. The still, dark, reflective surface fills the foreground and doubles the forms, and the title, Pierrot, evokes a tragicomic commedia dell’arte character suggested by the pallor of the man’s face. The print belongs to a set the artist made in Amsterdam during a two-month stay in early fall 1889, following his summer marriage to Beatrice Philip, the widow of architect Edward William Godwin.

Artwork Details

Title: Pierrot
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
Date: 1889
Medium: Etching and drypoint, printed in dark brown ink on medium weight ivory laid paper; sixth state of eight (Glasgow)
Dimensions: Plate: 9 1/8 × 6 1/4 in. (23.1 × 15.9 cm)
Sheet: 9 1/8 × 6 1/4 in. (23.1 × 15.9 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
Object Number: 17.3.149
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By James McNeill Whistler

In the same medium

From the same time and place

A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.

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

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.