La Marchande de moutarde

1858

Not on view

After visiting Cologne during a summer–fall tour in 1858, Whistler created this image of an elderly mustard vendor who arranges jars within a dim interior, as a young assistant leans against the door jamb. He here establishes a formula to which he would often return—using an open entrance to frame a receding interior containing figures and objects that refer to a particular activity and locale. One of the most complex prints in "Douze eaux-fortes d’après nature" (Twelve Etchings from Nature), Whistler based the composition on drawings and sent an impression to the Paris Salon of 1859. This example belonged to Thomas Winans, a Baltimore friend who financed the artist's move to Paris in 1855; Winans kept the print in an album that descendants gave to the Museum.

Artwork Details

Title: La Marchande de moutarde
Series/Portfolio: French Set ("Douze eau-fortes d'apres Nature" 1858) and Winans Scrapbook
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
Date: 1858
Medium: Etching on tan chine on white wove paper (chine collé); third state of five (Glasgow)
Dimensions: Plate: 6 1/4 x 3 7/16 in. (15.8 x 8.8 cm)
Sheet: 7 3/16 x 4 7/16 in. (18.2 x 11.3 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of Margaret C. Buell, Helen L. King, and Sybil A. Walk, 1970
Object Number: 1970.121.73
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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