Square House, Amsterdam

James Abbott McNeill Whistler

1889

Etching

Minneapolis Institute of Art

An etching depicts a row of multi-story buildings with numerous windows and balconies reflected in the water below. The buildings appear densely packed, with architectural details rendered in fine lines. An etching depicts a row of multi-story buildings with numerous windows and balconies reflected in the water below. The buildings appear densely packed, with architectural details rendered in fine lines. Whistler created ten etchings of Amsterdam, which he believed were some of the most successful of his career. Being in the land of Rembrandt, whom Whistler called the master, inspired him. These etchings combine the exacting technique of his early Thames scenes with the impressionism of his Venetian subjects. In the Amsterdam works Whistler used intricate linear patterns to evoke the varied surfaces of the houses and their reflectio