Art Institute of Chicago

Reading by Lamplight

James McNeill Whistler

Date

1859

Medium

Etching and drypoint, with foul biting, in black on cream laid paper

Culture

United States

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

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 multifigure The Music Room (1917.444), 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 anticipates Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 .

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