“A Fire at Pomfret” is a watercolor artwork by James McNeill Whistler, created around the year 1850. This piece, rendered in the Tonalism art movement, measures 13.02 by 19.69 centimeters and falls under the genre of sketch and study.
The artwork exhibits a scene set against a broadly washed, muted backdrop. The composition includes several figures engaged in what appears to be a communal effort to extinguish a fire. The artist captures the hustle and spontaneous action of individuals attending to the blaze. The left side of the artwork features the predominant source of smoke and flames, subtly portrayed with dark strokes and hazy patches. Figures are sketched with minimalist detail—each rendering holding water buckets or engaging with the fire scene. The use of light washes of color and understated lines emphasizes the ambient atmosphere rather than meticulous details, in keeping with the Tonalist approach, rendering a poetic impression of the event’s urgency and communal endeavor.
