这项创新且令人信服的研究从惠斯勒的服役背景及其与 "边缘自然 "的关系出发，重新审视了他的作品。

惠斯勒出身于军人和工程师家庭；他的父亲乔治•华盛顿•惠斯勒少校原本是美国的军事工程师。1851年至1854年，惠斯勒在西点军校接受军事训练，随后在美国海岸和大地测量局的绘图部门工作，试图实现父亲希望他以工程或建筑为职业的愿望。在西点军校和美国海岸和大地测量局，绘图和制图是重要的组成部分。这些影响反过来又影响了惠斯勒对自然的态度，从他著名的伦敦 "夜景 "到他描绘的法国海岸风光，所有这些作品都是惠斯勒在1855年永久定居欧洲后创作的。

这本引人入胜的书以有趣和贴切的新视角重新评价了一个耳熟能详、色彩斑斓的艺术人物，对我们了解维多利亚时代的艺术世界及其实际环境做出了新的重要贡献。

This innovative and compelling study reconsiders Whistler’s work from the context of his military service and his relationship with ‘nature at the margins’.

Whistler came from a family of soldiers and engineers; his father, Major George Washington Whistler, was originally a US military engineer. Drawing and mapmaking were important components of the military training that Whistler acquired as an offi cer cadet at West Point Academy in 1851-4 and subsequently in the Drawing Department at the US Coast and Geodetic Survey, where he attempted to realise his father’s hopes that he would make engineering or architecture his profession. These infl uences in turn shaped Whistler’s attitude towards nature, as expressed in works ranging from his celebrated London ‘Nocturnes’ to his French coastal scenes – all of which were created after Whistler moved permanently to Europe in 1855.

This absorbing book reassesses a familiar and notoriously colourful artistic fi gure in a fascinating and pertinent new light, and is an important new contribution to our understanding of the Victorian art world and its physical context.