UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

The copper plate bears the maker's oval stamp on the verso: 'C. SERVANT / PLANEUR / 45, B DES GDS AUGUSTINS'. This stamp is found on a group of fourteen plates, which may date between 1888 and 1901: A building with an arched window [476], Sunflowers, Marché St Germain, Paris [437], Church Interior [427], Polichinelle, Jardin du Luxembourg [467], The Band, Luxembourg Gardens [466], Under the Statue, Luxembourg Gardens [464], Confections pour Dames [475], Antony's Print Shop, Rue de Seine [477], Mme Pelletier, Blanchisserie, Paris [481], Boulevard Poissonière, Paris [483], Café Corazza, Paris [484], Sleeping Child, Ajaccio [488], Flaming Forge [490]. Several date from 1893/1894 and the last two date from 1901.

All these etchings are very rare and several were not printed in Whistler's lifetime - or at least, no impressions have survived. It is possible that the death of Whistler's wife in 1896 and his removal from Paris to London caused plates to be set aside or abandoned. It is also possible that the plates were considered unsatisfactory in some way (for instance, he thought that the Corsican plates of 1901 had been ruined, because the acid-resistant ground had started to come off).

This copper plate was not finished, nor was it cancelled. It was in Whistler's studio at his death and was bequeathed to Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958). Miss Philip gave the plate to the University of Glasgow in 1935.