Etchings Institutions search term: west point
J. Becquet, Sculptor |  Freer Gallery of Art (1898.284) | |
| Number: | 62 | |
| Date: | 1859 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 257 x 194 mm | |
| Signed: | no | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | 'Thames Set', 1871 | |
| No. of States: | 6 | |
| Known impressions: | 96 | |
| Catalogues: | K.52; M.52; T.54; W.48 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (96) | ||
STATE
Six states are known before cancellation.
State 1
There is no signature or inscription.
The head and figure are in etching; this state was printed with a frisket and shows the figure only from head to knee.
State 2
The shoulders are broadened by drypoint lines, which suggest a cloak; light horizontal lines are added in the right background below the shoulder; roughly vertical lines are added on each side of the figure; there is a ragged area of foul biting along the lower edge.
Traces of an earlier composition by another hand, showing soldiers in an encampment, are visible towards the lower and right edges in many impressions.
State 3
Strong vertical and slanting lines in drypoint are added in the background, each side of the figure, and short diagonal lines below his right arm; slightly curving vertical lines are added at lower left and right and in the middle, over his legs; the 'cello has been partly burnished out.
State 4
Slanting drypoint lines are added under his arm and shoulder to left of the 'cello, and on the neck of the 'cello; lines are added on his cravat.
State 5
The lower edge of the plate has been cleaned, removing the foul biting.
In later impressions, many of the lines at right and left have worn down, the drypoint burr is irregular, and there are scratch and corrosion marks on the plate.
Published in the 'Thames Set' in this state.
State 6
A small cross-shaped mark at upper left has been removed; the drypoint lines are worn but heavier inking sometimes conceals the deterioration of the lines, as in the impression reproduced.
Published with the second edition of the 'Thames Set' in this state.
State 6 (cancelled)
Cancelled with a grid of horizontal and vertical lines.