UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

barge, boat, river, riverscape, sailing ship, sailors, steamboat, wharf.

Variations on the title are as follows:


'Wapping - The Pool' (1870s, Whistler). 2
'Wapping - the Dock' (1878/1879, Whistler). 3
'Wapping – The Pool' (1881, Union Art Club). 4
'The Large Pool (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 5
'Wapping (The Pool)' (1887/1888, Whistler). 6
'The Large Pool' (1893, Chicago). 7
'The Large Pool - Wapping' (1903/1935, possibly Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958)). 8


The title 'The Large Pool' was used to differentiate it from The Little Pool [79] and The Tiny Pool [167], but Whistler's original title was definitely 'Wapping - The Pool', and this is the preferred title.

In the left foreground is a wharf with two men standing on it. A pulley is suspended from the tall timber scaffolding at the edge of the wharf. Right across the foreground there are two rows of barges, with figures seated in one near the wharf. A man is rowing a boat just beyond them. Five tall two- and three- masted sailing ships are moored out in the river, with a small tug or steam boat just beyond them, to left. Three Thames barges are sailing down the river to right. In the distance on both sides of the River Thames are wharves, buildings and warehouses of all sizes, some with boats moored beside them.

The Pool of London, in the River Thames. Whistler made four etchings specifically called 'the Pool', namely The Pool [49], The Little Pool [79], The Tiny Pool [167] and this, Wapping - The Pool.