A Street Scene
Classification
Drawing
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Accession Number
F1898.168
Tags
About this artwork
Seymour Haden (1818-1910), London [1]
Art Historical Context
James McNeill Whistler’s *A Street Scene* (1858) offers a glimpse into the artist’s early career as a masterful draftsman. Created when Whistler was just 24, this drawing captures the everyday vitality of urban life, likely inspired by his travels between Paris and London. Though the exact medium remains unidentified, its classification as a drawing highlights Whistler’s skill in quick, evocative sketches—a technique he honed amid the Realism movement’s influence from French artists like Courbet and Millet. The work’s provenance adds rich historical layers: it once belonged to Seymour Haden, ...