About this artwork
After years of painting seascapes on a significantly smaller scale, James McNeill Whistler returned briefly to the large-format canvas to capture the effects of a hot summer day on the water near Brittany, France. According to the Chicago collector Arthur Jerome Eddy (portrait nearby), the artist painted this seascape while boating off the coast as a crewman steadied their vessel. This could account for the unusually broad handling of paint and thick touches of pigment apparent throughout the composition, particularly in the clouds and gently cresting waves. Even toward the end of his life, Whistler demonstrated his enduring passion for the myriad relationships of color offered by the ever-changing sea.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Arts of the Americas
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Artist
- James McNeill Whistler
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Title
- Violet and Silver - The Deep Sea
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Place
- United States (Artist's nationality)
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Date
- 1893
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Medium
- Oil on canvas
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Inscriptions
- Inscribed in ink on backing, upper right: "Violet & Silver. The Deep Sea."; butterfly monogram Also on verso: Exhibited in salon of the / Champ de Mars. 1894 / & / bought in my Studio, Paris/ in October of that year by / John A. Lynch, of Chicago./ J. McNeill Whistler.
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Dimensions
- 50.2 × 73.3 cm (19 3/4 × 28 7/8 in.)
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Credit Line
- Gift of Clara Margaret Lynch in memory of John A. Lynch
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Reference Number
- 1955.743
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/84088/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.
