UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

The copper plates used by Whistler in Corsica came from two sources, Hughes & Kimber in London or C. Servant in Paris. This is one of two large copper plates bought from Servant that have survived from the Corsican trip (with Sleeping Child, Ajaccio [488]).

The Pennells record Whistler's work on the plates:

'when the weather gave him a chance, he worked on his copperplates. J. [Joseph Pennell (1860-1926)] had grounded them at the last moment in the damp cold of London, they were packed in among his linen, and taken out in the hot sun of Ajaccio. The result was that the varnish came off in the biting - “All my dainty work lost” he said - and it looked as if the great shadow had fallen upon our friendship. But he knew the fault was his, and the shadow passed as quickly as it had come.' 5

In 1931 Nathaniel Sparks (1880-1956) confirmed that 'The grounds laid by Pennell were far too thick, & burnt in putting on; they would have pin-holed in the acid bath - & chipped when drawn on - I removed the grounds and found them decomposed & burnt into the plates with the heat used -' 6

It is possible, however that Flaming Forge, Ajaccio was among the copper plates that Whistler thought had been spoilt, but that it was rescued. The copper plate was in Whistler's studio at his death and was bequeathed to Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958). The plate was printed in London in 1931 by Sparks, who noted:

'One of them has a large smudge of Black on the top corner where burr was left where his vice held the plate - the others have a row of 6 dots remains of the vice mark after the burr was removed / these marks are now removed from the plate' 7

It was then cancelled with a diagonal line at upper left. Miss Philip gave the plate to the University of Glasgow in 1935.