UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

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Old Westminster Bridge

Impression: Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art
(1898.266)
Number: 47
Date: 1859
Medium: etching and drypoint
Size: 76 x 204 mm
Signed: 'Whistler' at lower left
Inscribed: '1859' at lower left
Set/Publication: 'Thames Set', 1871
No. of States: 4
Known impressions: 75
Catalogues: K.39; M.38; T.36; W.36
Impressions taken from this plate  (75)

STATE

Four states are known before cancellation.

State 1

Impression: K0390102
Signed and dated 'Whistler 1859' (the 't' is not crossed) at lower left.
The composition is complete.
There is a jetty or a narrow lighter sticking out into the water in the centre.

State 2

Impression: K0390103
Horizontal drypoint lines are added below the bodies of the horses; the jetty or lighter in the centre foreground has almost disappeared.

State 3

Impression: K0390238
A small cloud is added above and to the left of the high tower; two almost horizontal lines in the water - one short and one long - meet at the head of the man with the stick, at left.
The drypoint varies in strength with wear and inking.

State 4

Impression: K0390212
Horizontal and diagonal drypoint lines are added in the sky.

State 4 (cancelled)

Impression: K0390205
Cancelled with four vertical lines (two with additional reinforcing lines etched roughly beside them) and one horizontal line.