Marbles |  National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (1943.3.8588) | |
| Number: | 270 | |
| Date: | 1886/1887 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 133 x 98 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at upper right | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 3 | |
| Known impressions: | 5 | |
| Catalogues: | K.284; M.280 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (5) | ||
STATE
Three states are known before cancellation.
State 1
Signed with a butterfly on the wall to right of the window.
The main composition is complete. The features of the boy at right are not indicated; there is a clear space to right of the woman at far right, and no shading about the seated boy.
There are faint outlines of an earlier version of the standing woman at right and traces of the head, shoulders and back of a larger-scale study of a woman, upside-down, at lower left.
State 2
Not reproduced.
The butterfly is shaded.
This state - otherwise similar to State 1 - was described by the Grolier Club, Mansfield and Kennedy but it was not reproduced and no impression has been located; nevertheless this suggests that it should be included as a separate state. 5
The butterfly is shaded.
This state - otherwise similar to State 1 - was described by the Grolier Club, Mansfield and Kennedy but it was not reproduced and no impression has been located; nevertheless this suggests that it should be included as a separate state. 5
5: New York 1904a (cat. no. 341B); Mansfield 1909 (cat. no. 280); Kennedy 1910 (cat. no. 284).
State 3
The features of the boy kneeling at the right are defined; there is cross-hatching to right of the woman at far right; shading is added round the crouching boy and on the little girl by the window; there is additional shading along the bottom and edge of the wall and to left of the door; shading and cross-hatching are added in the doorway, making the seated child and the legs of the figure to right stand out; shading is added on some window panes.
State 3 (cancelled)
Cancelled with one diagonal line.
No impression from the cancelled plate is known. This is a digital image based on the copper plate. 6
No impression from the cancelled plate is known. This is a digital image based on the copper plate. 6
6: A scan of the copper plate was flipped horizontally, converted to greyscale, and colour inverted, with enhanced contrast.