Billingsgate
date: label: Date
content: 1859
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Edition/State
content: 4, 2
label: Label
content: Among the most widely distributed of all Whistler’s Thames etchings, Billingsgate was initially begun in 1859. As his shop-front project gathered energy, he published this print three times between 1878 and 1882. Docked fishing boats nearly obscure the distinctive stone arches of new London Bridge, symbol of the “honourable British merchant” completed in 1831. By the time Whistler published his print, the fish market and its clock tower, visible at left, had already been torn down and replaced by an even larger building.
label: Label
content: Whistler etchings are identified by "G" numbers as assigned in "James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonn&‌eacute;," by Margaret F. McDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock (University of Glasgow, 2012), http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk. This print is G51 state 2 of 9.
label: Provenance
content: Seymour Haden (1818-1910), London [1]
label: Provenance
content: To 1898
label: Provenance
content: H. Wunderlich & Co., New York to 1898 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1898 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from H. Wunderlich & Co., through Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938), in November 1898 [3]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Whistler List, Etchings, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See Voucher No. 20, November 1898, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [3] See note 2.
label: Provenance
content: [4] 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: Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change (November 18, 2023 to May 4, 2024)
label: Exhibition History
content: An American in London: Whistler and the Thames (May 3 to August 17, 2014)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Etchings and Copper Plates (May 15, 1968 to February 22, 1971)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Etchings and Lithographs (March 23, 1962 to July 4, 1962)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Prints (December 12, 1955 to February 25, 1956)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Etchings, Lithographs, and Drypoint (September 24, 1947 to April 11, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Etchings and Lithographs (April 4, 1930 to January 20, 1944)
label: Exhibition History
content: Etchings and Dry Points by Whistler (March 23, 1925 to March 24, 1930)
label: Exhibition History
content: Special Exhibition, Whistler Etchings and Lithographs (January 14, 1924 to February 18, 1924)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings, Etchings, and Lithographs. J.A.McN. Whistler (May 2, 1923 to January 7, 1924)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910)
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: etching (printing process)
label: Topic
content: boat
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: F1898.278
objectType: label: Type
content: Print
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Etching; ink on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 15.3 x 22.5 cm (6 x 8 7/8 in)