Etching printed on Japanese paper, 1861
Among the Thames etchings made in early 1861, several show the old bridges spanning the river. Whistler is more interested in the pictorial potential of the foreground shipping and the stormy mood of the sky than in the detail of the bridge.
This is one of a group of early etchings in the Fitzwilliam (with Fumette, The Tinker, Mother Gerard, Street at Saverne, The Mustard Seller and Seymour, seated) that were apparently printed at the same time on similar Japanese paper, and have remained together ever since. As this plate is dated 1861, the entire group was probably not printed before that date, when Delâtre was doing the printing for Thomas’s exhibition. Another impression of this plate printed on lighter-weight Japanese paper was given to the Fitzwilliam Museum by G. J. F. Knowles in 1921 (P.2077-R).
Bequeathed by G. J. F. Knowles 1959
Collections record: P.80-1959
