Etchings Institutions search term: british museum
La Mère Gérard |  Freer Gallery of Art (1890.10) | |
| Number: | 24 | |
| Date: | 1858 | |
| Medium: | etching | |
| Size: | 129 x 90 mm | |
| Signed: | 'Whistler - ' at lower left (2-final) | |
| Inscribed: | 'Imp. Delatre. Rue St. Jacques. 171.' at lower centre (4) | |
| Set/Publication: | 'French Set', 1858 | |
| No. of States: | 4 | |
| Known impressions: | 53 | |
| Catalogues: | K.11; M.13; T.6; W.9 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (53) | ||
PUBLICATION
EXHIBITIONS
Impressions also appeared in public galleries, such as in Philadelphia in 1879; and in private clubs, for the connoisseur, such as the Union League Club in New York, to which Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) lent 'Trial proof; only one.' and 'The same. The finished state' in 1881 (
, and possibly ). 14
Bernard Buchanan MacGeorge (1845?-1924) lent his impression to an international exhibition in Glasgow in 1888 (). 15
Impressions were for sale in print dealer's shows, particularly by H. Wunderlich & Co. (1898, 1903) and F. Keppel & Co. (1902) in New York and by Obach & Co. in London in 1903. Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) bought several impressions, originally from the collection of Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910), from Wunderlich's in 1898 (
, , ). 16 Both Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) and Freer lent impressions to the exhibition organised by the Caxton Club, Chicago, in 1900 ( and ). 17
After Whistler's death, impressions were exhibited in the comprehensive Memorial Exhibitions in New York in 1904 and in Paris and London in 1905 - an impression was lent by King Edward VII to the latter. 18
12: Hague 1863 ; see REFERENCES : EXHIBITIONS.
13: London Pall Mall 1874 (cat. no. 23); Liverpool 1874 (cat. no. 506).
14: New York 1881 (cat. nos. 12, 13).
15: Glasgow 1888 (cat. no. 2552-9)
16: New York 1898 (cat. no. 8); New York 1903b (cat. nos. 6, a, b).
17: Chicago 1900 (cat. nos. 9, 9a).
18: New York 1904a (cat. no. 10); Paris Mem. 1905 (cat. no. 292); London Mem. 1905 (cat. no. 9).
SALES & COLLECTORS
19: Thomas 1874 (cat. no. 6).
, ); and Europeans such as William Cleverly Alexander (1840-1916), in London (); Philippe Burty (1830-1890), in Paris (); and Bernard Buchanan MacGeorge (1845?-1924) in Scotland (); as well as family members such as Thomas DeKay Winans () and C. S. Haden (). Winans bought Whistler's etchings in the summer of 1859, through Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910), to whom he wrote on 20 June: 'I enclose two drafts on Liverpool amounting to £63 sterling and as requested by you, for the etchings - they arrived in good order and are considered very fine, doing Jemmy great credit, I hope he will get up another sett' [sic]. 20 By that date Whistler was indeed at work on the next set, of the Thames.20: GUW #07079.
). 21 Later, Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) bought four impressions, originally from Haden's personal collection, from Wunderlich's, one in 1890 () and several in 1898 (, , ).21: V&A, Register for Prints, p. 33.
) and praised by H. Stewart Cundell as among the 'exceptionally fine plates' published in the 'French Set' in the 'scanty collection of modern etchings in the British Museum' 23
22: Sotheby's, 30 April 1876 (lots 730, 731).
23: 'English Etching', The Standard, London, 25 April 1878, p. 2 (GUL PC1/94).
Major private collectors included Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), who bought four impressions from F. S. Haden's collection through H. Wunderlich & Co.: three third states (
, , ) and a final state (). The third states are not radically different but they do reveal slight variations in inking and paper, and show the very obsessive nature of Freer's collecting. They were bequeathed with the rest of his collection to the Freer Gallery of Art.24: Sotheby's, 3 March 1892 (lot 52), Christie's, 8-9 March 1892 (lot 52); Christie's, 13-14 July 1897 (lot 297).