Mrs J. Birnie Philip |  Hunterian Art Gallery (49932) | |
| Number: | 479 | |
| Date: | 1896/1901 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 102 x 68 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at right | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 3 | |
| Catalogues: | K.-; M.-; T.-; W.- | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (3) | ||
TECHNIQUE
The plate was executed in etching, with only tiny touches of drypoint on and in front of the sitter's left ear. The figure was sketched in curved and hooked broken lines, and shaded with irregular patches of shading and zigzag lines, and with some cross-hatching, which goes in various directions to accentuate the planes of the face and costume.
PRINTING
A small edition of four impressions was printed at the request of Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) in 1931 by Nathaniel Sparks (1880-1956) who recorded printing '3 Proofs - On W[histler]'s own old paper & his own brown ink... Plate in perfect condition Paper from his book'. 6 His impressions are signed 'Nathaniel Sparks / Imp' (i.e. 
). They were printed in warm black ink on different papers, including cream medium-weight laid paper, possibly Asian () and ivory laid western paper ().
). They were printed in warm black ink on different papers, including cream medium-weight laid paper, possibly Asian () and ivory laid western paper ().6: Note dated 18 June 1931, 94-120-145-3 (f.3); see Martin Hopkinson, 'Nathaniel Sparks's Printing of Whistler's Etchings', Print Quarterly, 1999, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 340-341, 349.