JAMES MCNEILL WHISTLER (1834-1903)

'...in Amsterdam, as in London and Venice, Whistler magically transformed the disjointed structures along the back canals with their "old paint and old woodwork" into palaces by capturing their pattern and colour and mirrored reflections. Like his new friend, the Symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé, Whistler sought to capture the essence of what was otherwise impermanent in nature. As such, the etchings of houses reflected in canals may be seen as a logical outgrowth of the great Venetian nocturnes. In the Amsterdam plates, however, Whistler painted with 'exquisite line' rather than films of plate tone, and created multifaceted images which shimmer with light and 'colour''. (K. Lochnan, The Etchings of James McNeill Whistler, Ontario, 1984)