Artwork Images
Photo:
Controls
Nocturne: Palaces
Object Details
-
Date
1879-1880
-
Object Type
Prints
-
Medium
Etching and drypoint
-
Contributors
Printed by James McNeill Whistler
Published by Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell
-
Dimensions
Image: 11 3/4 x 8 in.
Sheet: 12 x 8 in. -
Edition
?/42
-
Inscriptions
Recto:
l.l. signed beneath image (on tab), in graphite: [butterfly monogram] imp
Verso:
l.l. in graphite: X-1948
-
Credit Line
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas
-
Accession Number
1985.279
-
Copyright
Public domain
Object Description
On a small footbridge in the center of Nocturne: Palaces, a gas lamp glimmers feebly. Tucked between two buildings, it casts a pallid glow onto the nearby walls. Whistler’s evocative portrayal of an alley at night appeared in his Second Venice Set, an 1886 portfolio of 26 etchings based on his 1879 visit to the famed Italian city.
Multiple impressions of this work survive. Each is unique. When printing the edition, Whistler inked the copper plate differently with each impression, spreading fluid layers of ink wash across the surface of the plate with a rag or the palm of his hand. Each application of wash, known as plate tone, created its own distinct sensation of illumination: Some prints suggest the muted haze of dawn, dusk, or evening fog, others the cloaking darkness of midnight. In turn, Whistler’s manipulation of plate tone helped ensure the originality—and market value—of each individual print.
—Text taken from the Carter Handbook (2023).
Additional details
Location: Off view
See more by James McNeill Whistler
Tags
Amon Carter Disclaimer
This information is published from the Carter's collection database. Updates and additions based on research and imaging activities are ongoing. The images, titles, and inscriptions are products of their time and are presented here as documentation, not as a reflection of the Carter’s values. If you have corrections or additional information about this object please email us to help us improve our records.
Every effort has been made to accurately determine the rights status of works and their images. Please email us if you have further information on the rights status of a work contrary or in addition to the information in our records.
Related Works
-
Maternal Caress, 1890-1891
Mary S. Cassatt
Drypoint, aquatint, and soft ground etching
1978.22 -
Martial Law, 1872
George Caleb Bingham
Mezzotint, stipple, and engraving
1971.43 -
Green Nude, ca. 1918-1924
Gaston Lachaise
Crayon on paper
2018.4 -
Bridge Over the Delaware, Easton, PA, 1879
Mary Nimmo Moran
Etching
1987.84 -
The Jolly Flat Boat Men., 1847
George Caleb Bingham
Aquatint, engraving, stipple, etching, and roulette with applied watercolor
1971.44 -
Zerogram, 2017
Ellen Carey
Dye coupler print
P2018.40 -
Grain Elevator IV, 1926
Werner Drewes
Drypoint
1986.33 -
Martha Graham - Letter to the World (Swirl), 1940
Barbara Morgan
Gelatin silver print
P1974.21.17 -
The City of Detroit. (From Canada Shore.), 1872
Asa Coolidge Warren
Steel engraving with applied watercolor
1970.236