Old Westminster Bridge
Date1859
Artist
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
(American painter and printmaker, 1834–1903)
MediumEtching and drypoint
Dimensionsplate: 2 15/16 × 7 15/16 in. (7.5 × 20.2 cm)
sheet: 8 9/16 × 11 5/16 in. (21.7 × 28.7 cm)
sheet: 8 9/16 × 11 5/16 in. (21.7 × 28.7 cm)
Credit LineGift of Dr. Charles Lee Reese, 1940
Object number1940-11.430
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPRINT
Label TextThis image depicts (old) Westminster Bridge, built between 1739 and 1750. During Whistler's lifetime the structure, which had fallen into a dilapidated state, was replaced by a new bridge completed in 1862. Whistler's diminutive but captivating view across the Thames is an homage to a monument of a passing era. While the viewscape is urban, Whistler's focus is on the use of the land, its productivity, and how people interact with it. The new landscape of industrial England was the metropolis, and Whistler documents it in the tradition of British topographical painters of previous generations. (msf)
