Grand' Place, Brussels
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Accession Number
F1903.246
Tags
American ArtCharles Lang Freer collectionUnited Statesetching (printing process)palacestore front
About this artwork
The main square in Brussels, officially named Grote Markt (Big Market), offers a beautiful view beloved by tourists who visit the Belgian capital, as Whistler did in 1887. Unlike Whistlerâs London subjects, Grandâ Place captures seventeenth-century houses united behind a monumental façade. Within, craftguilds comprising carpet makers, tanners, millers, cartwrights, sculptors, and stone cutters drove the economic life of Brussels. Whistler also includes a sign reading âSale de Vent,â ind...