The Little Velvet Dress | ||
Number: | 119 | |
Date: | 1873 | |
Medium: | drypoint | |
Size: | 166 x 122 mm | |
Signed: | butterfly at right | |
Inscribed: | no | |
Set/Publication: | 'Cancelled Plates', 1879 | |
No. of States: | 3 | |
Known impressions: | 27 | |
Catalogues: | K.106; M.106; W.92 | |
Impressions taken from this plate (27) |
The Little Velvet Dress probably dates from 1873. Whistler wrote 'The little Velvet dress' and '73 -' for Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) on one impression (
). It is not absolutely certain that this date was written at the time. However, the butterfly signature suggests a date of 1873 or 1874, and it is likely that this drypoint was exhibited in 1874. 1
Dating from Whistler's depiction of dress is tricky; this could date from 1873 or a little later. By 1875, although dresses still had prominent trains gathered in behind the waist, skirts were gathered in tightly at the front, making walking and sitting difficult.
![Graphic with a link to impression #K1060206](../../images/etchlink.gif)
Dating from Whistler's depiction of dress is tricky; this could date from 1873 or a little later. By 1875, although dresses still had prominent trains gathered in behind the waist, skirts were gathered in tightly at the front, making walking and sitting difficult.
1: Possibly London Pall Mall 1874 (cat. nos. 6 or 22, et seq.) 'Dry Point, Portrait'.