Little Pool from "The Thames Set"

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Little Pool from "The Thames Set"

Artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler (American, 1834-1903)

Date1861

DimensionsSheet: 4 1/4 × 5 1/8 in. (10.8 × 13 cm)

Mediumetching and drypoint

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineBequest of Barbara Reed

Object number

2022.4

Not on View

DescriptionThis is an elevated view of the Pool of London, a stretch of the River Thames from London Bridge to the north-eastern tip of the Rotherhithe peninsula. All imported cargo would pass through, waiting for inspection and assessment from the Customs House. As commercial trade increased in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, overcrowding became an issue and a frequent artistic subject. Whistler’s etching depicts the numerous vessels on the Thames, some moored along the quays and others midstream. To the left are two men in coats and top hats; one who is drawing the scene and the other looking over his shoulder. The identity of the standing figure is assumed to be Ralph Thomas, Sr., father of dealer and print publisher, Edmund Thomas. But the seated figure is less easily attributed, and most likely an amalgamation of Ralph Thomas, Jr., and Whistler’s features.

Published ReferencesWedmore, Sir Frederick, Whistler's Etchings: a Study and a Catalogue , London, 1886, cat. no. 72.

Mansfield, Howard, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Etchings and Dry-Points of James Abbott McNeill Whistler , Chicago, 1909, cat. no. 73.

Kennedy, Edward G., The Etched Work of Whistler New York, 1910, cat. no. 74.