UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

Rue de la Rochefoucault

Impression: Hunterian Art Gallery
Hunterian Art Gallery
(46645)
Number: 434
Date: 1888
Medium: etching and drypoint
Size: 132 x 221 mm
Signed: butterfly at upper left of centre
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 4
Known impressions: 8
Catalogues: K.419; M.365
Impressions taken from this plate  (8)
Rue de la Rochefoucault dates from 1888. The butterfly signature is consistent with this date: it is of a form used after Whistler's marriage to Beatrice Whistler (1857-1896) on 11 August 1888. The scene was probably etched on the way to or from the Loire, where the Whistlers went on an extended honeymoon in the autumn of 1888. Oysters are advertised in the window, suggesting a date between September and November, when oysters were in season.
The etching was first sold in December 1888. 1

Etchings dating from earlier in the year include Quai de Montebello [385] and Passages de l'Opéra [386]; and from the later Paris visit, Little Terrace, Luxembourg Gardens [443] and The Little Terrace, Luxembourg Gardens, No. 2 [444].

1: Whistler to Dowdeswell, 10 December 1888, GUW #13029.