Read the visual description
The image shows an etching of a riverside scene with a wooden barge in the foreground and sailboats docked in the background. People are gathered on the barge, and the riverbank is filled with buildings and crowds of people. The fine lines in the etching depict texture and movement in the water and sails. The color palette is sepia and black, creating a timeless quality. In the distance, arches of a bridge are visible.
National Gallery of Art · Print
Billingsgate
James McNeill Whistler
- Date
- 1859
- Medium
- etching and drypoint in black on laid paper
- Dimensions
- plate: 15.08 × 22.54 cm (5 15/16 × 8 7/8 in.) sheet: 19.84 × 28.1 cm (7 13/16 × 11 1/16 in.)
- Classification
- Accession number
- 2015.19.3254
- Credit line
- Corcoran Collection (Bequest of Margaret Coughlan, 2004)
- Time span
- 1851 to 1875
- Department
- CG-W
Subjects and terms
- American
- etching
- drypoint
- Cityscape
- Bridge
- Boats
- Water
- River
- Clock
- Figures
- Men
- Buildings
- cityscape
Provenance
Margaret Coughlan, Washington, DC; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2004; acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art
Inscription
lower center in plate: Whistler. 1859.; lower center edge in graphite by unknown hand: 6 1/2 + 9 3/8 - 14 + 18; lower right corner in graphite by unknown hand: B437; lower center verso in graphite by unknown hand: 409
NGA object ID 173480. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.