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103

Whistler's Mother

Freer Gallery of Art
Accession no: 1903.252
State: 1/1

Collection credit:Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution  
Image credit:Photo Whistler Etchings Project / E. G. Kennedy, The Etched Work of Whistler (1910)  
Provenance:Listed by E. G. Kennedy as owned by Mortimer Luddington Menpes (1860-1938), London, 1910. Bought from Obach & Co., (receipt 9 December 1903), by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit, MI, 1903.  

 

Paper size:349 x 225 mm  
Plate mark size:251 x 152 mm  
Paper trimmed to pmk?:no  
Colour of the paper:cream  
Paper type (wove, laid, Japan etc):laid  
Note on the paper:blank book, 'modern' laid (post 1800), even distribution, little debris, vertical chain lines  
Tab?:no  
Watermarks:DE ERVEN Dk BLAUW  
Medium:drypoint  
Ink colour:black  
Additional work on the print, e.g. in pencil:no  
Print tone:Print tone in the upper half of the plate and creating the substance of the skirt, the plate being roughly wiped clean around the edges of the skirt. The plate was inked only over the lines of the subject and on the upper half of plate; it was selectively wiped, rather cleanly, across the torso, head and upper one-third of the plate, but much heavier ink was left over the skirt area; there are distinct l-r and r-l diagonal wiping marks in the plate tone in that darker area.  
Note on foul biting:  
Print note:The drypoint prints with noticeable burr  

 

Whistler's sign on plate:no  
Inscriptions by Whistler on the plate:no  
Inscriptions by others on the plate:no  
Whistler's signature on paper:  
Inscriptions by Whistler on the paper:  
Tab signed/inscribed:no  
Note on the tab:  

 

Printer's signature (e.g. Goulding):no  
Notes on inscriptions:  
Collector's mark:'F' stamp (C.L. Freer, not in Lugt)  
Dealers' stock nos:no  
Misc inscriptions by others:'W 88 Whistler's Mother - unique' written by C. L. Freer on margin of print, recto, erased 16 June 1925 (FGA folder sheet); blue dot lower left verso.  

 

Source of information:Whistler Etchings Project and museum records  
ID:K0970101  

All inscriptions are in graphite pencil unless otherwise stated.