The Tall Bridge
date: label: Date
content: 1878
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Label
content: Unlike Whister's early lithotints that were drawn directly on the printing stone, The Broad Bridge was based on a preliminary charcoal drawing. Whistler traced the drawing onto his stone, going over the resulting outline with a crayon before completing the design by adding washes. When he was almost finished, he scraped away some of the tone to lighten the sky between piers and add highlights to the water. Although the image is in reverse, the view is through the wooden piers of old Battersea Bridge, with the warehouses and smokestacks of Battersea silhouetted against the sky.
label: Label
content: Whistler lithographs are identified by "C." numbers as described in The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1998). This print is C12.
label: Provenance
content: To 1888
label: Provenance
content: H. Wunderlich & Co., New York to 1888 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1888 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from H. Wunderlich & Co. in 1888 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Whistler List, Lithographs, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: An American in London: Whistler and the Thames (May 3 to August 17, 2014)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler and the Thames (December 17, 2000 to June 17, 2001)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler & Japan (May 14, 1995 to January 1, 1996)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: H. Wunderlich & Co. (1874-1912) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: United States
topic: label: Topic
content: bridge
label: Topic
content: United States
label: Topic
content: American Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1888.22
objectType: label: Type
content: Print
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Lithotint; ink on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (overall): 27.6 x 18.1 cm (10 7/8 x 7 1/8 in)