The Lime-Burner (W. Jones, Lime-Burner, Thames Street)

1859

Not on view

As he had in La Marchande de moutarde in 1858, Whistler here focuses on a humble business and uses the architecture to frame a receding interior. The proprietor, William Jones, leans against a barrel in his yard, near artfully arranged ladders. At left, a long passageway ends in a glimpse of the water of East London Wharf. Limeburners reduced chalk and limestone in kilns to produce a key ingredient for mortar and plaster. Whistler included this print in A Series of Sixteen Etchings of Scenes on the Thames and Other Subjects (the "Thames Set") in 1871.

Artwork Details

Title: The Lime-Burner (W. Jones, Lime-Burner, Thames Street)
Series/Portfolio: Thames Set ("A Series of Sixteen Etchings of Scenes on the Thames and Other Subjects" 1871)
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
Date: 1859
Medium: Etching and drypoint, warm black ink on ivory wove paper; first state of two (Glasgow)
Dimensions: Plate: 9 3/4 x 7 in. (24.8 x 17.8 cm)
Sheet: 12 3/8 × 10 1/16 in. (31.4 × 25.6 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
Object Number: 17.3.39
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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James McNeill Whistler

19th century

Reading, James McNeill Whistler American, Lithograph with scraping; printed in black ink on grayish chine mounted on ivory wove paper; fourth state of four (Chicago) — Reading
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Windsor (Memorial), James McNeill Whistler American, Drypoint; third state of four (Glasgow); printed in dark brown ink on ivory laid paper — Windsor (Memorial)
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Early Morning, James McNeill Whistler American, Lithotint with scraping, on a prepared half-tint ground, printed in black ink on cream wove paper; third state of four (Chicago) — Early Morning
James McNeill Whistler
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