The Terrace, Luxembourg
Medium
Transfer lithograph with stumping; only state (Chicago); printed in black ink on fine cream laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 3 15/16 × 8 1/2 in. (10 × 21.6 cm) Sheet: 8 11/16 × 11 1/4 in. (22.1 × 28.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
Accession Number
17.3.201
Tags
Art Historical Context
James McNeill Whistler’s *The Terrace, Luxembourg*1894) captures a serene moment in Paris’s Luxembourg Gardens, evoking the leisurely elegance of fin-de-siècle Europe. Depicting women strolling amid lush trees on a sunlit terrace, the print reflects Whistler’s fascination with atmospheric harmony and subtle tonal beauty. A master of Aestheticism, Whistler prioritized “art for art’s sake prioritizing mood and composition over narrative, much like his famed nocturnes and Thames etchings. This transfer lithograph, the only state printed in Chicago, showcases Whistler’s innovative printmaking pro...
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...