Westminster Bridge, or Westminster Clock Tower
1860–98
Medium
Etching, drypoint, aquatint and roulette; seventh state of eight
Dimensions
Plate: 11 5/16 x 15 3/4 in. (28.8 x 40 cm) Sheet: 12 5/8 x 17 11/16 in. (32 x 45 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of David Keppel, 1921
Accession Number
21.16.5
Art Historical Context
Félix-Hilaire Buhot’s *Westminster Bridge, or Westminster Clock Tower* captures a quintessential London vista during the height of the Victorian era. Created between 1860 and 1898, the print reflects the artist’s fascination with urban atmospheres and modern city life. A French printmaker active during the Impressionist period, Buhot frequently traveled to England and translated its fog-shrouded riverscapes into evocative works on paper. The image was produced through an unusually rich combination of etching, drypoint, aquatint, and roulette. These layered techniques allowed Buhot to achieve ...
About the Artist
Félix-Hilaire Buhot · 1847–1898
Félix-Hilaire Buhot was born on July 9, 1847, in Valognes, a small town in Normandy, France, into a modest family—his father a wine merchant and his mother a seller of women's clothes. Orphaned by age seven after losing both parents and his maternal grandmother, he was raised by relatives, including a godfather, and received an early introduction to drawing from his adopted mother's nephew. In 186...