![1873, James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne: Battersea Bridge [chalk and pastel] -- National Museum of Asian Art (Washington) | by R.M.Lenox](http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53360544808_644af6d622.jpg)
1873, James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne: Battersea Bridge [chalk and pastel] -- National Museum of Asian Art (Washington)
From the museum label: Battersea Bridge was the first on the Thames to be lit at night, initially by oil lamps and later by gas. In his pastel, Whistler has ignored this early urban improvement, relying upon the bright yellow light cast by a full moon, echoed by the illuminated clock tower of Chelsea Old Church. A few other shore lights along with a sprinkling of stars and their reflections conjure the shimmering, silvery dusk. By the time Whistler executed this image, the rickety structure was one of only two surviving wooden bridges over the Thames. By 1890, the old Battersea Bridge was gone.
Link to other paintings from the exhibition Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change.
Link to other Whistler paintings.
1873, James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne: Battersea Bridge [chalk and pastel] -- National Museum of Asian Art (Washington)
From the museum label: Battersea Bridge was the first on the Thames to be lit at night, initially by oil lamps and later by gas. In his pastel, Whistler has ignored this early urban improvement, relying upon the bright yellow light cast by a full moon, echoed by the illuminated clock tower of Chelsea Old Church. A few other shore lights along with a sprinkling of stars and their reflections conjure the shimmering, silvery dusk. By the time Whistler executed this image, the rickety structure was one of only two surviving wooden bridges over the Thames. By 1890, the old Battersea Bridge was gone.
Link to other paintings from the exhibition Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change.
Link to other Whistler paintings.