Nocturne: Amsterdam in Winter
date: label: Date
content: 1882
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Description
content: A nocturnal view of Amsterdam in winter with figures skating in the center and foreground, and a building and trees indicated in distance; signed with the butterfly at lower right.
label: Signatures
content: Black butterfly in lower right quadrant
label: Paper/Support
content: On cold-pressed, wove paper mounted overall to board. Two sets of graphite sight marks in the upper corners. Single sight mark in the lower left corner.
label: Provenance
content: To 1904
label: Provenance
content: John James Cowan (1846-1936), to 1904 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1904 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from John James Cowan in 1904 [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, Paintings, pg. 19, 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: Whistler in Watercolor (May 18 to November 3, 2019)
label: Exhibition History
content: The Texture of Night: James McNeill Whistler (June 6, 2009 to July 25, 2010)
label: Exhibition History
content: Mr. Whistler's Galleries: Avant-garde in Victorian London, 1883 (November 20, 2003 to April 4, 2004)
label: Exhibition History
content: James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art—Whistler and Modern Life (May 11, 1984 to December 16, 1984)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler—Landscapes and Seascapes (October 14, 1969 to September 25, 1971)
label: Exhibition History
content: Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 10 and 11 (February 25, 1956 to November 3, 1959)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Paintings and Drawings (December 14, 1955 to February 25, 1956)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Works of Whistler (September 22, 1947 to April 11, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Water Colors (January 7, 1924 to April 4, 1930)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings, Pastels, and Water Colors, and Drawings. J.A.McN. Whistler (May 2, 1923 to January 7, 1924)
label: Exhibition History
content: Exposition des Oeuvres de James McNeill Whistler (May 1905)
label: Exhibition History
content: 78th Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture (Spring or Autumn of 1904)
label: Exhibition History
content: "Notes"—"Harmonies"—"Nocturnes" (May 1884)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: John James Cowan (1846-1936) (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: crop marks
label: Topic
content: mounting
label: Topic
content: bone black
label: Topic
content: cerulean blue
label: Topic
content: Prussian blue
label: Topic
content: burnt sienna
label: Topic
content: raw sienna
label: Topic
content: raw umber
label: Topic
content: iron oxide red
label: Topic
content: zinc white
label: Topic
content: chrome yellow
label: Topic
content: Mars pigment
label: Topic
content: yellow ocher
label: Topic
content: cadmium sulfide
label: Topic
content: winter
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: Related Online Resources
content: Whistler in Watercolor
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: F1904.81a-b
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Watercolor on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 20.3 x 27.3 cm (8 x 10 3/4 in)