Traghetto |  Art Institute of Chicago (1927.5960) | |
| Number: | 231 | |
| Date: | 1879/1880 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 240 x 311 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at lower left (1-2); replaced with new butterfly (3-final) | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 4 | |
| Known impressions: | 7 | |
| Catalogues: | K.190; M.187 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (7) | ||
The copper plate of Traghetto was destroyed, according to a note by Whistler on one impression (
). It has not been located. It was a large plate, a different size from any other plate, made specially for Whistler in Venice. 7 Otto Henry Bacher (1856-1909) and the Pennells record the history of this plate and the transfer of the composition to a second plate, The Traghetto [233]:
). It has not been located. It was a large plate, a different size from any other plate, made specially for Whistler in Venice. 7 Otto Henry Bacher (1856-1909) and the Pennells record the history of this plate and the transfer of the composition to a second plate, The Traghetto [233]:7: Getscher 1970.
'Mr. Bacher writes that The
Traghetto
"troubled him very much." He pulled one fine
proof and then overworked the plate so that he had to prepare
a second one. He had another copper of the same size and
thickness made by the Venetian from whom they all got
their plates. When this was ready, the first plate was
"inked" with white paint, instead of black ink, passed
through the press, and a proof pulled. This was placed on
the second plate, already varnished, which was then run
through the press. The result was "a replica in white upon
the black etching ground." Mr. Bacher says that upon the
new plate Whistler worked for days and weeks with the first
proof before him, that he might find and etch only the lines
in the original.'
8
8: Pennell 1908, I, pp. 284-285.