JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER PRINTS

[22] The Lime-Burner, 1859
Etching and drypoint, printed in warm black ink on thin laid Japan
paper, an impression in the second (final) state, aside from the
edition published in the Thames Set
9 3/4 x 6 7/8 inches (24.9 x 17.2 cm)
sheet 14 1/8 x 8 x 3/4 inches (36 x 22.5 cm)
Reference: Kennedy 46; Glasgow 55
Using an upright format, Whistler shows the Thames
from the shore, leading the eye through a succession of
timber buildings to a small vignette of the river and the
opposite bank, placed just left of centre. The premises of
William Jones & Co were at 241 and 242 Wapping High
Street, a few doors from the sites of Thames Police and
Eagle Wharf. Although this work is widely known as The
Lime-Burner, it was initially given the title W. Jones, Limeburner,
Thames Street when it was shown at the Royal
Academy of Arts the summer after it was made. This
original title shows Whistler as a committed Realist,
choosing a subject from modern life and specifically
identifying the working man in the picture.
After its first showing at the Royal Academy in 1860
(943), it was exhibited in The Works of James Whistler
– Etchings and Dry Points at E. Thomas’s print shop at
39 Old Bond Street in 1861. The subject was published
in the Thames Set; no.9. The plate was sold by F. Keppel
& Co. to Charles Lang Freer in 1896 and is now in the
Freer Gallery of Art.
36 london and the thames