Quai de Montebello |  Hunterian Art Gallery (49905) | |
| Number: | 385 | |
| Date: | 1888 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 152 x 230 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at upper left | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 3 | |
| Known impressions: | 9 | |
| Catalogues: | K.417; M.366 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (9) | ||
TECHNIQUE
This plate began as a pure etching, drawn with short, bold, broken lines and patches of zigzag shading. There are big gaps in outlines, so that the figures and goods, static in bright sunlight, are suggested, rather than fully defined. Very fine drypoint shading was added in later states -- between the figures, under the awnings and between some goods on display.
PRINTING
The first state was printed in black ink; one, inscribed '1st proof' by Whistler, was printed on buff laid paper, watermarked with a crown over 'GR' (
) and another on ivory laid paper (). On 18 July 1889 Whistler had one proof left. 10
) and another on ivory laid paper (). On 18 July 1889 Whistler had one proof left. 10 10: List, GUW #13235.
One impression of the second state was kept by Whistler and in fact marked '1st state' by the artist (he seems to have considered the first state a 'proof' rather than a state). It was printed in dark brown ink on the crowned 'GR' paper (); similar paper was used for impressions of Passages de l'Opéra [386], done presumably at the same time (, , ). Other impressions of the second state were printed in black ink on ivory laid paper: one sheet was clearly removed from a book, and is discoloured at the edges () and one has a 'DHK' countermark ().
); similar paper was used for impressions of Passages de l'Opéra [386], done presumably at the same time (, , ). Other impressions of the second state were printed in black ink on ivory laid paper: one sheet was clearly removed from a book, and is discoloured at the edges () and one has a 'DHK' countermark ().Four impressions were printed by Nathaniel Sparks (1880-1956), on the instructions of Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), in 1931. One of these was printed in black ink on ivory laid 'Pro Patria' paper, with an old Dutch inscription on the verso (). Sparks made notes of the paper and watermarks in his almost illegible writing: '1 on pailing paper / 1 on fools head / 1 with printing on back / 1 [some initial?]'. 11
). Sparks made notes of the paper and watermarks in his almost illegible writing: '1 on pailing paper / 1 on fools head / 1 with printing on back / 1 [some initial?]'. 11
11: Martin Hopkinson, 'Nathaniel Sparks's Printing of Whistler's Etchings', Print Quarterly, 1999, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 340, 343, 349.