UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

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Speke Shore

Impression: National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
(1943.3.8476)
Number: 139
Date: 1875
Medium: drypoint
Size: 155 x 230 mm
Signed: no
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: 'Cancelled Plates', 1879
No. of States: 4
Known impressions: 21
Catalogues: K.144; M.142; W.119
Impressions taken from this plate  (21)

TECHNIQUE

A very freely drawn drypoint, created with broken outlines for the figure and main landscape features, plus broad irregular patches of diagonal shading for the sky and foliage.

PRINTING

There were one or two proofs of the four states of Speke Shore (e.g. Graphic with a link to impression #K1440102, Graphic with a link to impression #K1440202, Graphic with a link to impression #K1440403, Graphic with a link to impression #K1440402) and possibly a print-run of about 20 from the cancelled plate.
The drypoint was printed in black ink with a rich burr in early impressions, on a variety of papers. The first state was printed on off-white laid paper, possibly from a book, with an Arms of Amsterdam watermark (Graphic with a link to impression #K1440102), the third on off-white laid paper with a beehive watermark (Graphic with a link to impression #K1440202), the fourth on soft ivory laid paper (Graphic with a link to impression #K1440403), and the fifth on a fine, light-weight, dark ivory laid paper with very uneven edges, particularly at the bottom (Graphic with a link to impression #K1440402).
It was published in an album of Cancelled Plates ('Cancelled Set') by The Fine Art Society, London, 1879. Many impressions from the cancelled plate still in the original album as published by the Fine Art Society in 1879 (i.e. Graphic with a link to impression #K1440502). There may have been a print-run of about 20 or 24. They were printed in black ink on cream or ivory laid paper, some with watermarks including 'Van Gelder' (Graphic with a link to impression #K1440510); crown (Graphic with a link to impression #K1440505); Strasbourg Lily/WGL (Graphic with a link to impression #K1440502) and Strasbourg Lily (Graphic with a link to impression #K1440508).