James McNeill Whistler Battersea Reach from Lindsey Houses

Date c.1864-1871
Materials Oil on canvas
Dimensions 51.3 cm x 76.5 cm
Marks Label: inscribed in ink by Harold Wright: City of London Fine Art Gallery / Gladwell Brothers / 20 & 21 Gracechurch Street.”
Further information GLAHA 46358.
Andrew McLaren Young, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1980 (55, plate 33).

Note This painting is interesting because it was begun long before Whistler started to paint his Nocturnes, but it shares many similar features. It was not painted at night, but the river Thames is enveloped in mist so that everything appears veiled and mysterious. The industrial warehouses of Battersea and the boat on the water appear indistinct and poetic. The figure on the bank at the left looks ghostly and insubstantial. However, in contrast to this, the women on the right are painted with some care and detail, showing Whistler’s interest in contemporary fashion; they may have been part of the later reworking. The parasol and spray of blossom on the far right remind the viewer of Whistler’s new interest in Japanese prints in which such objects could be found. Notice how the railings at the bottom of the picture form a kind of decorative grid against which the figures are placed. This was also a device used in Japanese prints.