The Medici Collar
Medium
Transfer lithograph; only state (Chicago); printed in black ink on grayish ivory China paper
Dimensions
Image: 7 5/16 × 4 7/16 in. (18.5 × 11.2 cm) Sheet: 8 3/4 x 6 1/2 in. (22.3 x 16.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Paul F. Walter, 1985
Accession Number
1985.1161.15
Tags
Art Historical Context
James McNeill Whistler’s *The Medici Collar* (7) is a striking transfer lithograph, capturing a woman in elegant profile adorned with an elaborate, ruffled collar reminiscent of Renaissance fashion. Printed in black ink on delicate grayish ivory China paper this sole Chicago state measures just 7 5/16 × 4 7/16 inches, showcasing Whistler’s mastery of intimate scale. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Drawings and Prints department, reflects the artist’s late-career fascination with printmaking, a medium he championed for its directness and tonal subtlety. Whistler, a leading figure in...
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...