• A Street at Saverne
  • A Street at Saverne
1 of 2

A Street at Saverne

View of a small town block, a figure in the distance walking away.
Maker nationality and date
1834-1903
Date(s)
1858
Medium
Watercolor and graphite on paper
Dimension(s)
H x W: 29.8 x 23.3 cm (11 3/4 x 9 3/16 in)
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Object Number
F1898.147
Production location
France, Saverne
Theme
Cityscape
Signature(s)
Unsigned.
Inscription(s)
Verso: [Dilbermung] Place St Thomas 3" (unknown hand)
Provenance
Selected Curatorial Remarks

1. Glazer, Jacobson, McCarthy, Roeder, wall label, 2019:
After unsuccessful stints at the US Military Academy at West Point and at the US Coast and Geodetic Survey here in Washington, Whistler moved to Paris to become an artist. In 1858 he and fellow artist Ernest Delannoy started on a walking tour of the Alsace and Rhineland regions, planning to reach Amsterdam. They soon abandoned the trip when they ran out of money. Along the way Whistler made scores of pencil drawings and several watercolors. He also drew on prepared copperplates that he etched and printed in Paris. The etchings here formed part of his first series, Twelve Etchings after Nature, known as the French Set. With under- and overdrawing in pencil, the watercolors were intended as compositional studies structured by line rather than color, while the etchings were considered finished works of art.

2. Lee Glazer, 2017:
This work, like F1898.152, F1898.153, and F1898.156 is a significant example of Whistler's early use of watercolor as a preparatory medium. Although his approach to watercolor changed markedly when he took it up again in the 1880s, Whistler's peripatetic quest for subjects and his interest in old city views endured throughout his career.

3. Kenneth Myers, wall label, 2004:
Saverne, or Zabern, is in Alsace, on the border between France and Germany, about thirty miles northwest of Strasbourg. Whistler and Delannoy stayed in Saverne for several days soon after they left Paris, long enough for Whistler to complete this elaborate watercolor. The watercolor served as the model for the etching A Street at Saverne.

Selected Published References
1. Curry: James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, Pg. 167
Whistler's visit to Saverne, a village in Alsace Lorraine, occurred in August 1858. That fall he returned to Paris, where he printed Twelve Etchings from Nature, also known as The French Set. An image related to this watercolor was included as number 6 in the set. Etching and watercolor share the same title, although certain changes were made. The etching is much smaller than the watercolor, and the image is reversed. The watercolor shows blue skies and has a free and sketchy linear quality. But successive states of the related etching become darker, with the lines coming closer and closer together in straight verticals and horizontals that tend to simplify the masses and heighten the scene's dramatic impact in a manner reminiscent of Charles Meryon (figs. F1878.1, F1878.2 in catalogue). Whether or not Street at Saverne was drawn from memory, as reported by the Pennells, it probably was used by Whistler in the development of his etching.
Catalogue Raisonne number
M237
MacDonald Catalogue number
Previous owner(s)
Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910)
H. Wunderlich & Co. (C.L. Freer source) (1874-1912)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)
This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections..

Related Objects