Sitter

Sam Weller's Landlord in the Fleet, Freer Gallery of Art

The 'landlord', a cobbler, is shown enjoying an evening in the Fleet Prison in London. This is one of several illustrations to The Pickwick Papers (The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club) by Charles Dickens (1812-1870), which was first published in monthly parts from April 1836-November 1837 and in book form in 1837. Whistler had read the edition in the USMA library, West Point.