The Forge, One of the 'Sixteen Etchings,' or the 'Thames Set' / James McNeill Whistler
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About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 1954/1.347
- Title
- The Forge, One of the 'Sixteen Etchings,' or the 'Thames Set'
- Artist
- James McNeill Whistler
- Artist Nationality
- American
- Artist Life Dates
- 1834-1903
- Medium and Support
- drypoint on laid Japan tissue
- Object Creation Date
- 1861
- Credit Line
- Bequest of Margaret Watson Parker
- Inscription
- Signed and dated on the plate, l.r.: Whistler. / 1861. Signed in pencil, l.l. margin: butterflm and imp. Collections: Howard Mansfield (Lugt 1342); H.S. Theobald (no mark); B. Bernard McGeorge (Lugt Suppl. 394)
- Dimensions
- 25.9 cm x 36.5 cm (10 3/16 in. x 14 3/8 in.)
- Century
- 19th century
- Physical Description
- Within a dark interior, a man in hat and wearing an apron stands at the left side of the image, facing a furnace. He holds the long handle of a tool into the furnace, holding his left hand on his hip. Behind him, to the right, are two youthful assistants wearing dark broad-brimmed hats, one leaning on an anvil. Further to the right are a seated woman and small child and at the far right is a man in a hat going down a flight of stairs. A second woman is visible in the background between the smith and the furnace, she is looking at the smith with hands raised. The interior shows evidence of the smith's work with tools hanging on the wall and a shovel next to one of the assistants.
- Subject Matter
- Whistler was fascinated with fireline and he frequently drew interiors with blacksmiths, glass blowers, and other crafts that utilize a furnace or fire. Such subjects also allowed him to exploit to great advantage the chiaroscuro effects of the dark interior and the white-hot light from the furnace; they also recall the dramatic interiors and genre subjects of Dutch art. This forge has been identified as one in the town of Perros-Guirec, Brittany, France.
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 1408 x 976
- File Size
- 171 KB
- Record
- 1954/1.347
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1954-sl-1.347/1954_1.347.jpg
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Related Links
Portfolios
- In public portfolios
IIIF
- Manifest
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1954-SL-1.347:1954_1.347.JPG
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- Full citation
-
"The Forge, One of the 'Sixteen Etchings,' or the 'Thames Set'; James McNeill Whistler." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1954-sl-1.347/1954_1.347.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 24, 2024.
