La Vieille aux Loques

1858

Not on view

After visiting the Rhineland during a summer–fall tour in 1858, Whistler created this image of an elderly woman sorting rags (loques). He here develops a formula to which he would often return—using an open entrance to frame a receding interior that contains figures and objects. Like "La Mère Gérard" and "La Rétameuse," the artist focuses on an old working woman, dignified but without sentiment. Created late in 1858 this is one of the most complex prints in "Douze eaux-fortes d’après nature" (Twelve Etchings from Nature), the artist's first published set.

Artwork Details

Title: La Vieille aux Loques
Series/Portfolio: French Set ("Douze eau-fortes d'apres Nature" 1858)
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
Date: 1858
Medium: Etching and drypoint; fourth state of four (Glasgow); late impression printed in black ink on cream wove paper
Dimensions: Plate: 8 3/16 × 5 13/16 in. (20.8 × 14.8 cm)
Sheet: 10 5/8 × 7 3/4 in. (27 × 19.7 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of David Keppel, 1917
Object Number: 17.21.75
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By James McNeill Whistler

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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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