Old Battersea Bridge

1879/1887

James McNeill Whistler

Associated Names
James McNeill Whistler

Artist, American, 1834 - 1903

The image depicts a view from below a bridge, looking up at it. The horizon is blocked by the bridge's structure, with faint outlines of buildings or structures in the distance. The sketch features precise line work, resembling architectural or impressionistic styles. The color scheme is monochrome, using shades of black and beige. Figures on the bridge are depicted engaged in various activities, and urban structures are hinted at beyond the bridge.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    lithograph in black on wove paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    image: 14.4 × 33.2 cm (5 11/16 × 13 1/16 in.)
    sheet: 28.8 × 46.1 cm (11 5/16 × 18 1/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.8672

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Stratis & Tedeschi 1998, no. 18, ii/ii

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Purchased August 23, 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.

1971

  • An Impressionist View on Paper - from the Lessing Rosenwald Collection of the National Gallery, Washington, D.C, Art Gallery at the University of Notre Dame, 1971, no. 49.

Bibliography

1896

  • Way, Thomas Robert. Mr. Whistler's Lithographs: The Catalogue. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1896; New York: H. Wunderlich & Co., 1905, no. 12.

1998

  • Stratis, Harriet K., and Martha Tedeschi, eds. The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler, vol. 1. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1998, pp. 96-99. no. 18, ii/ii.

Inscriptions

in graphite: (butterfly); by later hands: W. 12II; Published in notes / On van Gelder paper.

Wikidata ID

Q65022091

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