Grand' Place, Brussels

The main square in Brussels, officially named Grote Markt (Big Market), offers a beautiful view beloved by tourists who visit the Belgian capital, as Whistler did in 1887. Unlike Whistler’s London subjects, Grand’ Place captures seventeenth-century houses united behind a monumental façade. Within, craftguilds comprising carpet makers, tanners, millers, cartwrights, sculptors, and stone cutters drove the economic life of Brussels. Whistler also includes a sign reading “Sale de Vent,” indicating a sale room or auction house, to layer the modern business of art atop the historic guildhalls.