Early Morning, Battersea (Battersea Dawn) (Cadogan Pier)

James McNeill Whistler

1861 · Etching and drypoint; second state of two (Glasgow); printed in black ink on ivory laid paper · Drawings and Prints

In a scene near his new lodgings on Lindsey Row in Chelsea, Whistler responds to the calm of the Thames at dawn. A beached rowboat lies across the foreground and small sailboats cluster around a wooden dock at center. Beyond is a wooden ferry terminal rests on Cadogan Pier and Battersea Bridge extends across the river. Drypoint has been combined with etching to create soft effects evocative of misty water under an overcast sky. The print probbaly was made in 1863, but not published until in 1871 in A Series of Sixteen Etchings of Scenes on the Thames and Other Subjects (the "Thames Set").

Artist

James McNeill Whistler

Date

1861

Medium

Etching and drypoint; second state of two (Glasgow); printed in black ink on ivory laid paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of David Keppel, 1917