Add to Collection

Add this item to an existing or new collection.
Harvard Art Museums
Incorrect Username, Email, or Password
Print of figure rowing boat in front of silhouetted shore

In the foreground, a figure stands rowing a long boat. It floats on a smooth body of water. A shoreline borders the water at the horizon. We can make out a dome, some smokestacks, and a pointed steeple. Some buildings appear to have lighted windows. There are more concentrated points of light close to the shore. The shoreline is reflected in the water. This image is rendered in layered, blurred gray tones that give the impression of a watercolor. The light is low and the scene is backlit, so the boat and shore are dark, vague silhouettes.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
G8251
People
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, American (Lowell, MA 1834 - 1903 London, England)
Title
Nocturne
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Nocturne: The River at Battersea
Classification
Prints
Work Type
print
Date
1878
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303772

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Lithotint with scraping
Technique
Lithograph
Dimensions
sheet: 17.4 x 26.4 cm (6 7/8 x 10 3/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: lower edge, on dependent tab to right of center, graphite: [butterfly]
  • inscription: verso, various graphite inscriptions: a 65557. / L[reversed] >[oriented like a tent over] C / 1st state / HVO
  • collector's mark: verso, brown stamp with accession number written in graphite:
    GRAY COLLECTION, / HARVARD COLLEGE / 8251 [Lugt 1101]

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

State
Chicago i/ii
Standard Reference Number
Way 5; Art Institute of Chicago 8

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gray Collection of Engravings Fund
Object Number
G8251
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

  • Masterpieces of world art : Fogg Art Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1997
  • Harriet K. Stratis and Martha Tedeschi, The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler, The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL, 1998), vol. 1, p. 64

Exhibition History

  • Ancient to Modern, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/31/2012 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 2700 Impressionism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/14/2017 - 11/16/2017

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu