The Cock and the Pump

c. 1887

James McNeill Whistler

Associated Names
James McNeill Whistler

Artist, American, 1834 - 1903

The image shows a street in a village scene with buildings and people. The perspective is at street level, capturing a row of buildings with pitched roofs. The horizon is not distinct, and the scene is rendered in an etching style with sketch-like brushstrokes indicating the buildings and clouds. The color palette is monochrome, with shades of beige and black. Figures, possibly women and children, are conversing near a rooster, adding to the lively atmosphere. More figures are seen along the street, and additional buildings are visible in the distance.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall (trimmed to plate): 22 × 14.1 cm (8 11/16 × 5 9/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.8603

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    MacDonald 2012, no. 321, only state

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Knoedler & Co., New York, MK 30678). Purchased October 29, 1928 by Lessing Julius Rosenwald [1891-1971], Philadelphia, (Lugt 1760b); gift to National Gallery of Art, 1943.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1931

  • Etchings, Lithographs, Original Drawings, and Autograph Letters by James A. McNeill Whistler, The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1931.

Bibliography

1910

  • Kennedy, Edward G. The Etched Work of Whistler. New York: Grolier Club, 1910, no. 304.

2012

  • MacDonald, Margaret F., Grischka Petri, Joanna Meacock.James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné. University of Glasgow on-line website at http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk. University of Glasgow, 2012, no. 321, only state.

Inscriptions

on plate: (butterfly); on tab: (butterfly) imp

Watermarks

none

Wikidata ID

Q65022019

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