Nocturne (Nocturne: The Thames at Battersea)1878
The Thames at Battersea dissolves into soft, misty greys, boats and the far bank suggested by a few darker tones. More about this work
About this work
The Thames at Battersea dissolves into soft, misty greys, boats and the far bank suggested by a few darker tones. Whistler made the image in 1878 as a lithotint, brushing washes of liquid ink onto a prepared stone and scraping out the lighter passages, a technique that let him carry the mood of his painted Nocturnes into print. Working with the London printer Thomas Way, he achieved a delicacy that few lithographers of the time attempted.
Written by Ochre Editions.
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 Met 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
- 17.3.159
- Credit
- Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Type
- Prints
- Department
- Drawings and Prints
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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