The Music Room
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Accession Number
F1898.248
Tags
About this artwork
2, 1
Art Historical Context
James McNeill Whistler, renowned American artist (1834-1903) known for his elegant compositions and advocacy of "art for art's sake," created *The Music Room* in 1858, early in his career while living in Paris. This intimate etching captures a domestic interior, blending portraiture with everyday life—likely featuring figures engaged in reading amid the refined setting of a music room. part of the French Etching Revival, Whistler's print exemplifies his precocious skill in the medium, where acid bites into a metal plate to produce delicate lines and subtle tones, evoking a sense of quiet intim...