The Unsafe Tenement (The Old Farm)

James McNeill Whistler

[1858] later printing · Etching; fourth state of four (Glasgow); printed in black ink on medium weight tan antique laid paper · Drawings and Prints

Whistler found this dilapidated building during a summer tour of Alsace-Lorraine and the Rhineland. He carried sketchbooks, etching needles and copper plates, etching about six plates between mid-August and October. Such restraint suggests many preparatory sketches and careful planning before needle touched copper. Crumbling architecture is here given an unidealized individuality in a way that echoes how realist painters approached the human figure. In November 1858, Whistler included the print in his first published set, "Douze eau-fortes d'apres Nature" ("Twelve Etchings from Nature"), known as the "French Set." This is a later reprinting.

Artist

James McNeill Whistler

Date

[1858] later printing

Medium

Etching; fourth state of four (Glasgow); printed in black ink on medium weight tan antique laid paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Bequest of Julia H. Manges, in memory of her husband, Dr. Morris Manges, 1960