Twelve Etchings from Nature: En Plein Soleil

Twelve Etchings from Nature: En Plein Soleil — James Abbott McNeill Whistler. 1858.

Medium: etching on chine collé. Dimensions: .

Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

En plein air typifies the taste for French art and for the practice of executing landscapes out of doors. Whistler referred to the Twelve Etchings from Nature as the "French Set," so-called because the chief sources of inspiration were to be found in the avant-garde French art of the day. Working from a low vantage point, Whistler placed his model on the crest of a hill with a distant town and poplar tree behind her. The bright play of sun on her face, the veiled half-shadow cast by the parasol, the wind-whipped fringe and grasses all contribute to the immediacy of the scene and to the artist’s developing powers to capture nuances of his subject.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.