Detail from The Canal, Amsterdam, 1889, James McNeill Whistler, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

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M.0192
r.: Jack Sheppard, Edgeworth Bess, and Pol; v.: Lenses and prisms

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1855
Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Accession Number: 1970.121.30
Medium: r: pencil, pen and dark brown ink; v: pencil
Support: off-white wove paper
Size: 7 7/16-7 9/16 x 4 13/16-4 15/16" (190-192 x 122-127 mm)
Signature: 'J. Whistler. 1855.' or possibly 'J A Whistler. 1855.'
Inscription: ' "Jack Shephard" [sic], "Edgeworth Bess" & "Pol" '
print

r.: Jack Sheppard, Edgeworth Bess, and Pol; v.: Lenses and prisms

Sitter

r.: Jack Sheppard, Edgeworth Bess, and Pol, Metropolitan Museum of Art
r.: Jack Sheppard, Edgeworth Bess, and Pol, Metropolitan Museum of Art

The figures are the highwayman, Jack Sheppard, his accomplice, Edgeworth Bess, and her friend Mrs Pol Maggot, from W. H. Ainsworth's novel, Jack Sheppard: A Romance, first published in London in 1839, and reissued with illustrations by George Cruikshank in 1855. 1

Notes:

1: Pressley 1972 [more], at pp. 136-37.

Last updated: 14th March 2021 by Margaret