The Unsafe Tenement (The Old Farm)

James McNeill Whistler

[1858] later printing · Etching; fourth state of four (Glasgow); Printed in black ink on on modern medium weight dark cream 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 fourth state is a later printing with Delâtre's name removed from the plate.

Artist

James McNeill Whistler

Date

[1858] later printing

Medium

Etching; fourth state of four (Glasgow); Printed in black ink on on modern medium weight dark cream laid paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of David Keppel, 1917