Scene on the Mersey

James McNeill Whistler

Date unknown · Watercolor and gouache on white wove paper · The American Wing

Here, Whistler’s brushwork is wild and full of life. He used broad strokes to saturate the paper with free washes, then detailed the lighthouse and the figures in gouache with a fine point after the washes had dried. The technique relates to works dated 1883–84, though Whistler probably visited the Mersey—a river in northwest England—in the early 1870s while he was at Speke Hall (home of his patrons Mr. and Mrs. Frederick R. Leyland) and again in 1891 while he was hanging an exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.

Artist

James McNeill Whistler

Date

Date unknown

Medium

Watercolor and gouache on white wove paper

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917