James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Landscape with Bridge, Chelsea (Fulham-Chelsea), 1879

Etching, dry needle; dimensions: 13.2 x 20.5 cm; signed with monogram (so-called Whistler butterfly) within composition. The view shows Battersea Bridge and the old Chelsea Church.

Lit. by Edward Guthrie Kennedy, Royal Cortissoz The Etched Work of Whistler, Grolier 1910, signed no. 182 ii/ii; Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, Joanna Meacock James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, catalog raisonné, University of Glasgow website at http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk. University of Glasgow, 2012, cac. no. 181 v/v.
American painter and printmaker; worked mainly in Paris and London; one of the most consistent representatives of "art for art's sake"; Whistler's work is characterized by studied compositional arrangements, a color scheme based on muted color ranges, and a poetic and musical mood created by painterly means; he painted mainly portraits and landscapes, giving them titles: Composition..., Symphony..., Nocturne..., in the belief that the essence of a painting is not the subject matter, but the pure "poetry of sight."