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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 first state of the etching to the second (MMA 17.3.26) 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 and drypoint, printed in black ink on medium weight cream laid paper; first state of four (Glasgow)
  • Dimensions: Plate: 5 11/16 x 8 3/8 in. (14.4 x 21.3 cm)
    Sheet: 9 15/16 x 13 3/16 in. (25.2 x 33.5 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of William Loring Andrews, 1883, transferred from the Library
  • Object Number: 83.1.18
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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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
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1879
Windsor (Memorial), James McNeill Whistler American, Drypoint; third state of four (Glasgow); printed in dark brown ink on ivory laid paper
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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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