UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

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37

Reading by Lamplight

Freer Gallery of Art
Accession no: 1898.247
State: 3/3

Collection credit:Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution  
Image credit:Photo © Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution  
Provenance:Probably acquired from Whistler by Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910), London; bought from Hermann Wunderlich & Co., New York, (receipt, 9 November 1898), by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit, MI, November 1898; bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1919.  

 

Paper size:248 x 192 mm  
Plate mark size:159 x 119 mm  
Paper trimmed to pmk?:no  
Colour of the paper:cream  
Paper type (wove, laid, Japan etc):laid  
Note on the paper:'antique' laid (pre 1880); little debris - even distribution, page taken from book, horizontal chain lines.  
Tab?:no  
Watermarks:partial: Post Horn  
Medium:etching and drypoint  
Ink colour:black  
Additional work on the print, e.g. in pencil:no  
Print tone:With plate tone on shadows and shading, the central image area clean-wiped  
Note on foul biting:Small areas near top plate mark and larger areas below cup and saucer, behind chairback and on light, arched wall area around figure's head.  
Print note:A good impression, with a little burr, a rather odd blurring of lines, and of shading; perhaps the drypoint is breaking down? Or, it has etched deeper at the joining of two etched lines.  

 

Whistler's sign on plate:'J. Whistler' ('l' crossed as well as 't')  
Inscriptions by Whistler on the plate:no  
Inscriptions by others on the plate:no  
Whistler's signature on paper:no  
Inscriptions by Whistler on the paper:no  
Tab signed/inscribed:no  
Note on the tab:  

 

Printer's signature (e.g. Goulding):no  
Notes on inscriptions:M. Smith records previously existing inscription "S.H." in graphite on etching's margin. It was erased 1924.03.29.  
Collector's mark:no  
Dealers' stock nos:no  
Misc inscriptions by others:'W25' on verso by C. L. Freer.  

 

Source of information:Whistler Etchings Project and museum records  
ID:K0320204  

All inscriptions are in graphite pencil unless otherwise stated.