La Marchande de Moutarde

Object Details

• Artist

  James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

• Edition/State

  2, 2

• Label

  After his move to Paris in 1855, Whistler began a life-long exploration of old-fashioned, often dilapidated stores selling ordinary merchandise. Shown at the French Salon in 1859, an impression of this etching offered viewers a glimpse of daily life made beautiful through Whistler’s stylistic choices, which he derived from seventeenth-century Dutch masters whose works he admired as he traveled throughout northern Europe. The outsider’s glimpse of humble figures framed in a doorway, regularly seen in Dutch paintings, quickly became a standard trope for Whistler.

  Whistler etchings are identified by "G" numbers as assigned in "James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonn&‌eacute;," by Margaret F. McDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock (University of Glasgow, 2012), http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk. This print is G20 state 2 of 5.

• Provenance

  Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910), London [1]

  To 1891

  H. Wunderlich & Co., New York to 1891 [2]

  From 1891 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from H. Wunderlich & Co. in 1891 [3]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

  Notes:

  [1] See Curatorial Remark 2 in the object record.

  [2] See Original Whistler List, Etchings, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [3] See note 2.

  [4] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change (November 18, 2023 to May 4, 2024)

  Off the Beaten Path: Early Works by James McNeill Whistler (September 28, 2013 to September 28, 2014)

  Young Whistler: Early Prints and the "French Set" (August 28, 2004 to March 13, 2005)

  Special Exhibition, Whistler Etchings and Lithographs (January 14, 1924 to February 18, 1924)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910)

  H. Wunderlich & Co. (1874-1912) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  United States

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Print

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1850s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Haden, Seymour, H. Wunderlich & Co.

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, American Art, Store front, Etching (printing process)

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Prints