La Marchande de moutarde

James McNeill Whistler

1858 · Etching, printed in black ink on gray chine on white wove paper (chine collé); third state of five (Glasgow) · Drawings and Prints

After visiting Cologne during a summer–fall tour in 1858, Whistler created this image of an elderly mustard vendor who arranges jars within a dim interior, as a young assistant leans against the door jamb. He here establishes a formula to which he would often return—using an open entrance to frame a receding interior containing figures and objects that refer to a particular activity and locale. One of the most complex prints in Douze eaux-fortes d’après nature (Twelve Etchings from Nature), Whistler based the composition on drawings and sent it to the Paris Salon of 1859.

Artist

James McNeill Whistler

Date

1858

Medium

Etching, printed in black ink on gray chine on white wove paper (chine collé); third state of five (Glasgow)

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917