The Steps, Amsterdam |  Freer Gallery of Art (1906.112) | |
| Number: | 452 | |
| Date: | 1889 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 242 x 166 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at upper left | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 5 | |
| Known impressions: | 14 | |
| Catalogues: | K.403; M.402; W.260 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (14) | ||
STATE
Five states are known before cancellation.
State 1
Signed with a butterfly at upper left.
The composition is complete, except that the steps and reflections are barely indicated.
State 2
The top of each step is drawn in; the back and skirt of the girl facing the steps are shaded, and she casts a shadow to right; there are some additions, possibly in drypoint, including patches of shading in the water.
State 3
The five lower steps are finished and shaded; the wooden pilings supporting the cobbled pavement have been partly rubbed down and reworked; new shading is added in the water, reaching the bottom edge, and in the doorways; the shadow cast by the girl's leg on the cobbles has been removed; the head and body of the woman standing on the top of the steps are drawn in; the skirt of the woman in the doorway at left is shaded.
State 4
Longer fine vertical lines shade the steps, and the tops of the steps are more clearly defined; new shading is added on the wooden bulkhead above the canal.
State 5
Perpendicular lines partly shade the white space at lower left; diagonal lines are added at lower right; the shadows in the doorways look as if they have been rubbed down.
State 5 (cancelled)
Cancelled with a diagonal line.
No impression from the cancelled plate is known. This is a digital image based on the copper plate. 10
No impression from the cancelled plate is known. This is a digital image based on the copper plate. 10
10: A scan of the copper plate was flipped horizontally, converted to greyscale, and colour inverted, with enhanced contrast.