James McNeill Whistler
Early Morning, Battersea
1862
Physical Qualities
Etching and drypoint, Sheet: 138 × 175 mm. (5 7/16 × 6 7/8 in.)
Plate: 113 × 150 mm. (4 7/16 × 5 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
The George A. Lucas Collection, purchased with funds from the State of Maryland, Laurence and Stella Bendann Fund, and contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations throughout the Baltimore community
Object Number
1996.48.11672
This is one of Whistler’s earliest pure drypoints and depicts a subject near his house in Chelsea, but across the river, on the south side of the Thames. Like the docklands, Battersea was generally viewed negatively and was called “the sink hole of Surrey”
because of its industries. However, Whistler transformed the view, the soft burr of the drypoint line producing an atmospheric quality of haze.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 1996; The Maryland Institute College of Art,
through Henry Walters, Baltimore, by bequest 1909; from George A. Lucas, Paris
through Henry Walters, Baltimore, by bequest 1909; from George A. Lucas, Paris
"Claude Monet and Modernist London: Reflections on the Thames", Museum of Fine Arts of St. Petersburg, Florida, January 16, 2005 through April 17, 2005; tour to Brooklyn Museum of Art, June 29, 2005 - September 4, 2005; The Baltimore Museum of Art, October 2, 2005 - January 31, 2006.
Inscribed: Signed in plate: lower left "Whistler" Inscribed in pencil: verso, in Lucas' hand "No. 79 Early Morning Battersea Cadogan Pier"
Markings: Collector's stamp: verso "M.I. / LUCAS / COLLECTION" (Lugt 1695c) Watermark: "DE ERVEN Dk BLAUW"
