Annie, Seated |  British Museum (1872-07-13-402) | |
| Number: | 32 | |
| Date: | 1858/1859 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 130 x 97 mm | |
| Signed: | 'Whistler.-' at lower left | |
| Inscribed: | ' "Annie-" ' at lower centre (2-final) | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 3 | |
| Known impressions: | 58 | |
| Catalogues: | K.30; M.29; T.50; W.24 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (58) | ||
KEYWORD
girl seated, portrait.
TITLE
There are small variations in the titles for this etching by Whistler and later cataloguers, as follows:
'Annie' (1859, Whistler). 4
'Annie, seated' (1872, British Museum). 5
'Annie Seated' (1874, Ralph Thomas, Jr (1840-1876)). 6
' “Annie” ' (1881, Union League Club). 7
'Annie, Seated' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 8
Although the name 'Annie' was inscribed by Whistler on the plate, this title cannot be used, because another etching, Annie [7], was published with this title by Whistler in the 'French Set' in 1858. To distinguish it from the published plate, most later cataloguers called the etching 'Annie Seated' or, adding a comma, 'Annie, Seated', which is the preferred version.
'Annie' (1859, Whistler). 4
'Annie, seated' (1872, British Museum). 5
'Annie Seated' (1874, Ralph Thomas, Jr (1840-1876)). 6
' “Annie” ' (1881, Union League Club). 7
'Annie, Seated' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 8
Although the name 'Annie' was inscribed by Whistler on the plate, this title cannot be used, because another etching, Annie [7], was published with this title by Whistler in the 'French Set' in 1858. To distinguish it from the published plate, most later cataloguers called the etching 'Annie Seated' or, adding a comma, 'Annie, Seated', which is the preferred version.
4: Inscribed on the plate.
5: B.M. Print room Register of Purchases ..., 1872.
6: Thomas 1874 (cat. no. 50).
7: New York 1881 (cat. nos. 35-6).
8: Wedmore 1886 A (cat. no. 24)
DESCRIPTION
Annie is sitting on a round backed wooden chair, facing the viewer, with her elbow leaning on the central cross-bar of the chair at left. Her head is slightly bowed, with shoulder-length hair falling in waves from a central parting. She is wearing a knee-length dress with a full skirt, and loose sleeves gathered at the wrist. Her legs are barely indicated. She is lit from the front, with shadows falling behind and to the left.
SITTER
The sitter is Annie Harriet Haden (1848-1937). She was nine or ten years old. Other etched portraits of her are Annie Haden with Books [6],
Annie [7] (seen above) and Annie Haden [67]. She appears in a similar pose and dress in a group portrait with her mother, Deborah Delano Haden (1825-1908), and a friend, in the oil painting Harmony in Green and Rose: The Music Room [y034], reproduced below.
Harmony in Green and Rose: The Music Room [y034], oil, 1860/1861,
Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC.