Storming the Castle
1950
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
etching, aquatint, and engraving in black on cream wove paper
Dimensions
image: 27.2 x 17.5 cm (10 11/16 x 6 7/8 in.) sheet: 36.8 x 26.7 cm (14 1/2 x 10 1/2 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Roy and Dorothy Lichtenstein
Accession Number
1996.56.8
Art Historical Context
**Storming the Castle** is an early print by Roy Lichtenstein, created in 1950 when the artist was just 27 and still developing his distinctive voice. Produced as an etching, aquatint, and engraving in black on cream wove paper, it measures a compact 27.2 x 17.5 cm for the image, inviting close inspection of its intricate lines and tones. This technique combination—etching for precise lines, aquatint rich tonal gradations, and engraving for sharp detail—was a sophisticated choice for the era, allowing Lichtenstein to build dramatic contrasts and textures on the page. Before his iconic Pop Art...
About the Artist
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein was born on October 27, 1923, in New York City to Milton Lichtenstein, a real estate broker, and Beatrice Werner Lichtenstein, a homemaker with musical training, in an upper-middle-class German-Jewish family. Growing up on the Upper West Side, he displayed early artistic talent, sketching jazz musicians and visiting museums like the Museum of Modern Art. In 1939, he studied painti...