Past Exhibition

The Victorians

We look slightly down at a woman with pale skin and two men with ruddy complexions sitting at a table near a railing overlooking a boat-clogged waterway in this horizontal painting. Only the corner of the table is visible in the lower right corner of the canvas. The woman sits next to one man on the far side of the table, and the third person leans onto the table from our right, along the edge of the composition. The table is covered with a dark, ruby-red, floral cloth. The red-haired woman wears a dark green dress and leans back, extending her right arm along the railing. Her back is to the river below, and she gazes directly ahead, to our right. The dark-haired, bearded man sitting to her left, our right, leans toward the cleanshaven, dark-haired man sitting across from him. That second man wears a cap, and he has a prominent nose and square jaw. Sailboats, rowboats, a steamship, and vessels of every size occupy much of the waterway. Rows of buildings extend along the river to our left and right, and trees line the distant horizon at the center of the painting. The river is a tan color and the pale blue sky is hazy.
James McNeill Whistler, Wapping, 1860-1864, oil on canvas, John Hay Whitney Collection, 1982.76.8

Details

  • Dates

    -

  • Locations

    West Building, Main Floor, Galleries 74 through 79
We look slightly down at a woman with pale skin and two men with ruddy complexions sitting at a table near a railing overlooking a boat-clogged waterway in this horizontal painting. Only the corner of the table is visible in the lower right corner of the canvas. The woman sits next to one man on the far side of the table, and the third person leans onto the table from our right, along the edge of the composition. The table is covered with a dark, ruby-red, floral cloth. The red-haired woman wears a dark green dress and leans back, extending her right arm along the railing. Her back is to the river below, and she gazes directly ahead, to our right. The dark-haired, bearded man sitting to her left, our right, leans toward the cleanshaven, dark-haired man sitting across from him. That second man wears a cap, and he has a prominent nose and square jaw. Sailboats, rowboats, a steamship, and vessels of every size occupy much of the waterway. Rows of buildings extend along the river to our left and right, and trees line the distant horizon at the center of the painting. The river is a tan color and the pale blue sky is hazy.
James McNeill Whistler, Wapping, 1860-1864, oil on canvas, John Hay Whitney Collection, 1982.76.8

Overview: This first large survey of Victorian art in the United States consisted of 69 paintings highlighting the work of British painters during the reign of Queen Victoria. Included were Ophelia by John Everett Millais; Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl by James McNeill Whistler; Flaming June by Frederic Leighton; and works by J.M.W. Turner, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Edward Burne-Jones, and William Holman Hunt, among others.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art, its only venue. Curators were Malcolm Warner, curator of European art at the San Diego Museum of Art, and Nicolai Cikovsky Jr., curator of American and British paintings at the National Gallery.

Sponsor: The exhibition was made possible by a grant from United Technologies Corporation. Additional support was provided by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Attendance: 239,427

Catalog: The Victorians: British Painting, 1837-1901, by Malcolm Warner. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1996.

Brochure: The Victorians: British Painting in the Reign of Queen Victoria, 1837-1901, by Isabelle Dervaux. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1997.

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