Westminster Clock Tower
Medium
Etching, drypoint, roulette, aquatint, and spit-bite on ivory Japanese paper
Dimensions
Plate: 28.4 × 39.6 cm (11 3/16 × 15 5/8 in.); Sheet: 31 × 43.2 cm (12 1/4 × 17 1/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
94996
Art Historical Context
Step into the atmospheric haze of Victorian London with Félix Hilaireot's *Westminster Clock Tower* (1884), a etching housed in the Art Institute of's Prints and Drawings collection. The French printmaker, active during the late 19th-century etching, captures the iconic silhouette of the Palace of Westminster's clock tower—home to Big Ben—against a moody Thames-side sky. Buhot, influenced by Impressionism's emphasis on light and mood, transforms a British landmark into a poetic evocation of time, fog, and urban grandeur. This print showcases Buhot's technical bravura through a rare combinatio...