UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

Street at Saverne

Impression: National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
(1943.3.8406)
Number: 14
Date: 1858
Medium: etching and open bite or sandpaper ground
Size: 209 x 159 mm
Signed: 'Whistler' at lower left
Inscribed: 'Imp. Delatre. Rue St. Jacques' at lower right (2-3); erased (4)
Set/Publication: 'French Set', 1858
No. of States: 4
Known impressions: 81
Catalogues: K.19; M.19; T.7; W.11
Impressions taken from this plate  (81)
Street at Saverne was drawn during Whistler's etching tour of the Rhineland between 14 August and 7 October 1858.
The Pennells were incorrect in suggesting that the etching was done from memory on Whistler's return to Paris. They stated: 'We can recall none of his etchings at any period that might have been done from memory, except the Street at Saverne, the Venetian Nocturnes, and the Dance House, Amsterdam.' 1

1: Pennell 1908, I, p. 72.

In fact, the etching was based on a sketch, A street at Saverne [m0237]. It may well have been etched back in Paris, in October or November 1858, before publication. It was published in Douze eaux-fortes d'après Nature (Twelve Etchings from Nature, the 'French Set') in November 1858.