The Corner of Cheyne Walk, Chelsea
1888–89
Medium
Etching in black on thin cream wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 12.2 × 18.7 cm (4 13/16 × 7 3/8 in.); Plate: 13.3 × 19 cm (5 1/4 × 7 1/2 in.); Sheet: 14.4 × 19 cm (5 11/16 × 7 1/2 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
210933
Art Historical Context
*The Corner of Cheyne Walk, Chelsea* (1888–89) is a delicate etching by Theodore Roussel, a British artist renowned for his atmospheric prints and paintings inspired by James McNeill Whistler. Capturing a quiet street corner in London's bohemian Chelsea neighborhood—home to artists like Whistler and Dante Gabriel Rossetti—Roussel evokes the late Victorian era's artistic enclave along the Thames. Created shortly after Roussel settled in Chelsea in 1887, the work reflects his fascination with everyday urban scenes, rendered with subtle tonal harmonies. Etched in black ink on thin cream wove pap...
About the Artist
Theodore Roussel · 1847–1926
Theodore Casimir Roussel was born on 23 March 1847 in Lorient, Brittany, France, into a naval family. After serving in the Franco-Prussian War, he began painting in 1872 as an entirely self-taught artist, initially rendering scenes of daily life in the meticulous style of the Old Masters. In 1878, he settled permanently in London, where he immersed himself in the vibrant British art scene. There, ...