Accession Number
1954/1.394

Title
Regent's Quadrant

Artist(s)
James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1880-1881

Medium & Support
etching and drypoint, printed in black ink on laid paper, trimmed to platemark

Dimensions
6 7/16 in. x 4 11/16 in. ( 16.4 cm x 11.9 cm )

Credit Line
Bequest of Margaret Watson Parker

Subject matter
Regent's Quadrant was part of the busy commercial district in London where many fashionable shops were located, including the offices of the Fine Art Society. Whistler employs the architecture, both of the arcade in the foreground as well as of the buildings across the street as a foil for the teeming life in the street. The verticality, asymmetry, and compressed reading of depth are all influences of Asian art, although the depiction is very much a view of contemporary London.

Physical Description
Glimpsed through an entableture and single doric column, a busy boulevard is seen filled with horse-drawn carriages and cabs, as well as with pedestrians, mostly in the foreground. In the distance is a building with large windows.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Western

Rights
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Keywords
buildings
carriages (vehicles)
cart
cityscapes (representations)
columns
columns (architectural elements)
groups of people
horses