James McNeill WhistlerJames McNeill Whistler was born in 1834 in the American state of Massachusetts. At the age of nine he and his family left for Russia. In St Petersburg the young Whistler received drawing lessons at the academy. This was followed by lessons in England and America and visits to museums across the world. In 1855 he moved to Europe permanently. Originally living in Paris, where he met Gustave Courbet and other realists, in 1859 he settled in London. Whistler greatly admired Dutch masters such as Jan Steen, Rembrandt and Ruysdael. In 1858 he visited Holland to view the Nightwatch. Indeed, he became a frequent traveller to the Netherlands, visiting The Hague, Dordrecht and Domburg and producing numerous etchings of his favourite city: Amsterdam. |
