Annie |  Freer Gallery of Art (1903.230) | |
| Number: | 7 | |
| Date: | 1857/1858 | |
| Medium: | etching | |
| Size: | 119 x 81 mm | |
| Signed: | 'J.W' at lower left (1-2); 'Whistler' lower right (2); both removed (3); 'Whistler' lower left (4-final) | |
| Inscribed: | 'Imp. Delatre. Rue St. Jacques. 171.' at lower right (4-final); 'Annie' at bottom (6-final) | |
| Set/Publication: | 'French Set', 1858 | |
| No. of States: | 7 | |
| Known impressions: | 55 | |
| Catalogues: | K.10; M.8; T.10; W.15 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (55) | ||
Annie probably dates from early 1858, and was published with the Twelve Etchings from Nature, the ('French Set'), in November 1858.
It was drawn when Whistler was visiting Deborah Delano Haden (1825-1908), and Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910), in Sloane Street, London. It may have been drawn between February and March 1858, when Whistler was convalescing with the Hadens. Annie was then nine years old; she was ten on 13 December 1858.
However, the signature that appears on the first state is 'J.W.' which is in an early form, suggesting a date of 1857/1858 (other etchings similarly signed include The Dutchman Holding A Glass [4], Portrait of Whistler [5] and Annie Haden with Books [6]). By the end of 1858, Whistler was signing his work with his full surname: two portraits of the Haden children, Annie and Little Arthur [8], first signed with the initials, were signed 'Whistler' when published with the 'French Set' towards the end of 1858.