James McNeill Whistler 1834-1903

Set at the entrance to the West India Docks, Limehouse represents the most easterly location of Whistler's London subjects. In 1859, this was a notoriously squalid and dangerous area; the water was so contaminated that lime was regularly dumped into the Thames to suppress the stench of waste. Despite these conditions, Whistler spent two months living in Wapping to capture the working-class maritime community. The etching focuses on a tangle of mooring posts, boats, and gangplanks, and the bow-fronted Harbour Master's house. By cropping the foreground barge and the tops of the buildings, Whistler brings the viewer into immediate contact with the busy, cluttered life of the river.