Petite Rue au Beurre, Brussels

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) · 1887

During a visit to Brussels in September 1887, Whistler sought out appealing subjects in the working-class quarters of Les Marolles, a historic district dating back to the Middle Ages. The shops Whistler etched on Little Butter Street are built against the south walls of the church of St. Nicholas. By cropping out the church, which towers above the buildings in the scene, Whistler aligned this rare image, one of only three recorded, with other close-up shop fronts he encountered in Britain, France, and elsewhere.