James McNeill Whistler - Old Battersea Bridge, 1879

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This print shows figures crossing an old bridge across a body of water. A faint cityscape and an additional bridge are barely discernible in the far distance. The marks that make up the illustration are sketchy and undetailed. Several figures that lean on the bridge’s railing are shown as shadows. The bridge’s  decrepit structural supports appear heavily repaired: there are dozens of closely packed, crooked, columns braced with horizontal sections of fencing where they meet the water. The river is placid, the current moving slightly downstream to the right. The artist’s butterfly signature is small but prominent on the left side under the shadow of the span. 

James McNeill Whistler (Lowell, Massachusetts, 1834 - 1903, London, England)

Old Battersea Bridge, 1879

Lithograph printed on chine collé , 34.3 x 50.5 cm (13 1/2 x 19 7/8 in.)

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Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.