An Early Etching by William Welles Bosworth

• Published in: Metropolitan Museum journal Vol. 58; no. 1; p. 107
• Main Author: Ortuño, Andrea M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago University of Chicago Press 01.01.2023
• Subjects: 19th century; Architects; Art exhibits; Art techniques; Bosworth, William (1869-1966); Etching; Medieval period; Prints and printmaking; Romantic period; Visual artists; Belgium; Ghent Belgium
• ISSN: 0077-8958; 2169-3072
• DOI: 10.1086/728881

The Metropolitan Museum of Art possesses an etching of a street market scene in Ghent signed by American architect William Welles Bosworth. The print depicts stalls filled with produce, vendors arranging their wares, casual passersby, and sketchier figures engaged in conversation against a backdrop of deteriorating storefronts and stepped gable houses. This etching is part of Bosworth's early works from the late 1880s and early 1890s, before his admission to the Ecole des Beaux Arts. During this period, Bosworth embraced a style influenced by medieval aesthetics and picturesque decay. The etching captures a fading Romantic view of the haphazard nature of medieval cities and the way in which quaint local types functioned amid picturesque deterioration. Bosworth's early works on paper reflect the common practice among architecture students of traveling abroad to sketch various buildings and monuments. This etching provides insight into the early phase of Bosworth's career and his affinity for medieval architecture.