Accession Number
1954/1.346

Title
Rotherhithe, one of the "Sixteen Etchings," or the "Thames Set"

Artist(s)
James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1860

Medium & Support
etching and drypoint on paper

Dimensions
15 1/4 in x 10 3/8 in (38.74 cm x 26.35 cm)

Credit Line
Bequest of Margaret Watson Parker

Subject matter
Whistler spent several months in the commercial districts of London during 1859 and his etchings of the warehouses, docks, and people of Battersea and, in this instance Wapping, became the foundation of the Thames Set etchings, published in 1871. Densely clustered lines and careful observation characterize these views along the Thames. Charles Baudelaire celebrated the modernity of these views of London when a group of them were shown in Paris in 1862, describing them as “subtle and lively as improvisation and inspiration,” expressing with their “wonderful tangles of rigging, yardarms and rope; farragos of fog, furnaces and corkscrews of smoke; the profound and intricate poetry of a vast capital.”

Physical Description
Two men smoking long-stem pipes are seen sitting on a balcony. Behind them are visible the masts of ships along the bank, and further behind them in the distance a river sweeps towards the left. Buildings crowd the shore and boats are shown moored or in the river.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Western

Rights
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Keywords
Cityscapes
boats
buildings
cityscapes (representations)
docks (general waterside structures)
seated
shipping
ships
smoking (activity)
water
water towers