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Riault (The Wood Engraver)

Impression: Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art
(1898.305)
Number: 69
Date: 1860
Medium: drypoint
Size: 230 x 154 mm
Signed: 'Whistler.' at lower right
Inscribed: '1860.' at lower right
Set/Publication: 'Cancelled Plates', 1879
No. of States: 4
Known impressions: 22
Catalogues: K.65; M.65; T.58; W.62
Impressions taken from this plate  (22)

TECHNIQUE

Drypoint, boldly drawn with long lines on the body and short, delicate shading on the face and hands, and enriched with bold shading in later states.

PRINTING

Only four out of the five known pre-cancellation impressions of this drypoint have been located. They were printed in black ink with rich, soft burr on ivory or buff 'modern' (post-1800) or 'antique' laid paper (i.e. Graphic with a link to impression #K0650102, Graphic with a link to impression #K0650201).
Impressions from the cancelled plate are mostly from the album published by the Fine Art Society in 1879 (e.g. Graphic with a link to impression #K0650302). They were printed in black ink, usually on laid paper. Watermarks include cursive 'Van Gelder' (Graphic with a link to impression #K0650408), horned crown (Graphic with a link to impression #K0650401, Graphic with a link to impression #K0650403), and Strasbourg Lily (Graphic with a link to impression #K0650406).