The Windmill
Medium
Etching in black on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Image/plate: 9 × 10 cm (3 9/16 × 3 15/16 in.); Sheet: 9.4 × 10.3 cm (3 3/4 × 4 1/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
46521
Art Historical Context
**The Windmill** (1902) by Donald MacLaughlan captures the timeless charm of a rural landmark through the delicate art of etching. This intimate print, measuring just 9 × 10 cm, depicts a windmill rendered in black ink on cream laid paper, showcasing MacLaughlan's mastery of and tone. A Canadian-American artist active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, he renowned for his precise etchings inspired by European landscapes, blending realism with subtle atmospheric effects. Etching, the medium here (often akin to engraving in classification), involves incising lines into a metal plate wit...
About the Artist
Donald Shaw MacLaughlan
Donald Shaw MacLaughlan (1876–1938) was born on November 9 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, though he is recognized as an American artist after his family relocated to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1890. There, as a teenager, he immersed himself in the Boston Public Library's collections of old master prints, studying works by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, and eighteenth-century E...