La Belle Jardinière1894
James McNeill Whistler made this in 1894, aged 60. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago. More about this work
About this work
A work made of transfer lithograph in black, with stumping and scraping, on cream laid paper, laid down on a heavy backing sheet.
Description from the Art Institute of Chicago.
James McNeill Whistler made this in 1894, aged 60. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.
How it was made
- Lithograph
- Drawn on limestone with a greasy crayon or ink. The stone is kept damp, and the oily printing ink clings only to the drawing. Invented in the 1790s, it let artists print exactly as they drew.
- Laid paper
- Handmade on a mould of close-set wires, which leave fine parallel lines you can see when the sheet is held to the light.
James McNeill Whistler
American, 1834–1903 · Born in Lowell, Massachusetts; died in London.
Whistler spent part of his boyhood in Russia, left West Point without graduating and trained as a painter in Paris before settling in London in 1859. He held that a picture was an arrangement of colour and form, and named his works symphonies, harmonies and nocturnes; a hostile review of one nocturne led to his 1878 libel suit against John Ruskin. He was equally committed to etching, and in his Venice plates of 1879–80 he left films of ink on the copper to suggest water and dusk.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1917.437
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Type
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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