The Unsafe Tenement |  Freer Gallery of Art (1889.20) | |
| Number: | 18 | |
| Date: | 1858 | |
| Medium: | etching | |
| Size: | 158 x 226 mm | |
| Signed: | 'Whistler.' at lower right | |
| Inscribed: | 'Imp. Delatre. Rue St. Jacques. 171.' at lower left (2-3); erased (4) | |
| Set/Publication: | 'French Set', 1858 | |
| No. of States: | 4 | |
| Known impressions: | 76 | |
| Catalogues: | K.17; M.17; T.5; W.7 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (76) | ||
STATE
Four states are known.
State 1
Signed 'Whistler.' (the 's' reversed) at lower right.
A woman with a broom is sweeping the yard in the left foreground, to the right of the sleeping dog; a few lines indicate clouds in the sky.
State 2
Inscribed 'Imp Delatre. Rue St. Jacques. 171.' (the 't' in 'St' raised) at lower left.
The sweeping woman is removed and replaced by an open doorway, and a pitchfork leaning against a wall; distinct horizontal lines are added throughout the sky.
Published in the 'French Set' in this and the following state.
State 3
The sky has been largely removed, but some faint lines are still visible.
Published in the 'French Set' in this and the preceding state.
State 4
Delâtre's name and address are removed.
The tips of the copper plate corners were clipped off, so the platemark corners are blunt diagonals.