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The Music Room

A work made of etching, with selective wiping of plate tone, in black on off-white wove paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of etching, with selective wiping of plate tone, in black on off-white wove paper.

Date:

1859

Artist:

James McNeill Whistler
American, 1834-1903

About this artwork

Long before Whistler conceived of the portrait of his mother, his most important early models were his half-sister, Deborah Haden, and her family. Deborah was married to the physician, print collector, and amateur artist Francis Seymour Haden, and they had three children, Annie, Seymour, and Arthur. During one visit in 1859, Whistler created ambitious but personal depictions of the family, including the The Music Room, which portrays the couple along with Haden’s medical partner, James Traer, as deeply absorbed in their respective activities. Meanwhile, the severe profile of Deborah in Reading by Lamplight (1917.443) anticipates Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

James McNeill Whistler

Title

The Music Room

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1859

Medium

Etching, with selective wiping of plate tone, in black on off-white wove paper

Dimensions

Image/plate: 14.4 × 21.4 cm (5 11/16 × 8 7/16 in.); Sheet: 20.4 × 33.6 cm (8 1/16 × 13 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Bequest of Bryan Lathrop

Reference Number

1917.444

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/73414/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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