Late Picquet
Medium
lithograph in black on laid paper
Dimensions
image: 19.2 × 15.5 cm (7 9/16 × 6 1/8 in.) sheet: 31.5 × 20.2 cm (12 3/8 × 7 15/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.8717
Art Historical Context
James McNeill Whistler’s *Late Picquet* (4) is a striking lithograph in black on laid paper, capturing artist’s mastery of printmaking during his later career. Measuring just 19.2 × 15.5 cm for the image, this intimate work belongs to the National Gallery of Art’s Rosen Collection. Whistler, the American-born painter and printmaker renowned for his Aesthetic movement ideals—“art for art’s”—turned to lithography in the 1880s and 1890s, producing evocative series that echoed the subtle harmonies of his famous nocturnes. The title *Late Picquet* evokes a soldier on nighttime guard duty (piquet b...
About the Artist
James McNeill Whistler · 1834–1903
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was an American-born painter and printmaker who became a leading figure in the Aesthetic Movement and pioneer of Tonalism and Japonisme. He revolutionized art by championing "art for art's sake" and treating paintings as visual equivalents of musical compositions, titling works as "arrangements," "harmonies," and "nocturnes" to emphasize formal qualities o...