James McNeill Whistler
Early Morning, Battersea
1862
Scroll
James McNeill Whistler
Early Morning, Battersea
1862
Physical Qualities
Etching and drypoint, Sheet: 138 × 175 mm. (5 7/16 × 6 7/8 in.)
Plate: 113 × 150 mm. (4 7/16 × 5 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
The George A. Lucas Collection, purchased with funds from the State of Maryland, Laurence and Stella Bendann Fund, and contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations throughout the Baltimore community
Object Number
1996.48.11672
This is one of Whistler’s earliest pure drypoints and depicts a subject near his house in Chelsea, but across the river, on the south side of the Thames. Like the docklands, Battersea was generally viewed negatively and was called “the sink hole of Surrey”
because of its industries. However, Whistler transformed the view, the soft burr of the drypoint line producing an atmospheric quality of haze.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 1996; The Maryland Institute College of Art,
through Henry Walters, Baltimore, by bequest 1909; from George A. Lucas, Paris
through Henry Walters, Baltimore, by bequest 1909; from George A. Lucas, Paris
Monet's London: Artists' Reflections on the Thames, 1859-1914
Kennedy, Edward Guthrie. The Etched Work of Whistler (New York: Grolier Club, 1910; reprint, San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1978), #75.
Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock. James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné, University of Glasgow, 2012, on-line website at http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk.
Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock. James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné, University of Glasgow, 2012, on-line website at http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk.
Inscribed: Signed in plate: lower left "Whistler" Inscribed in pencil: verso, in Lucas' hand "No. 79 Early Morning Battersea Cadogan Pier"
Markings: Collector's stamp: verso "M.I. / LUCAS / COLLECTION" (Lugt 1695c) Watermark: "DE ERVEN Dk BLAUW"
