Steps, Amsterdam

Whistler, James McNeill, 1834-1903 · [1889]

Across a pavement supported by a bulkhead bordering a canal, a broad flight of steps leads to three adjoining doorways, between large square windows, in a wide house. In the story above, two smaller square windows flank a narrow window of four panes. On each side of the steps is a doorway opening upon the pavement. Clothes are hung in front of the lower window at the left and the upper window at the right. A girl with her back turned is standing in front of the steps, and a woman with a child in her arms at the foot of the steps, and there are people in all but one of the doorways. There are extensive reflections in the canal. The butterfly, shaded, is between the narrow window and the upper window at the left.