Etchings Institutions search term: copley society
Arthur Haden |  Freer Gallery of Art (1892.1) | |
| Number: | 66 | |
| Date: | 1859 | |
| Medium: | drypoint | |
| Size: | 229 x 154 mm | |
| Signed: | 'Whistler.' (2-final) at lower left | |
| Inscribed: | '1869' at lower left (2-3); changed to '1859' (4) | |
| Set/Publication: | 'Cancelled Plates', 1879 | |
| No. of States: | 4 | |
| Known impressions: | 31 | |
| Catalogues: | K.61; M.61; T.59; W.47 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (31) | ||
STATE
Four states are known before cancellation.
State 1
There is no signature or inscription.
The upper parts of a figure and chair are sketchily delineated; remnants of an upside-down head are visible at lower centre, from an earlier use of the copper plate.
State 2
Signed 'Whistler. 1859.' at lower left.
The figure, sitting sideways on a round backed wooden chair, and the curtain behind him, are completed; the boy wears a velvet jacket, striped trousers, silk stockings and 'pumps'; a hat lies on the floor at lower right; stray lines of hair at upper left have been covered by the shading of the curtain and several lines indicating curls are added at left.
The first impressions of this state show the new curls at left quite clearly, but they are less distinct on later impressions, as the drypoint burr had worn.
State 3
Short horizontal lines indicate a shadow on the floor to right of the boy's ankle; patches of fine shading are added to the curtain; lines are added on the hair, particularly at the top and left.
State 4
Fine shading is added to the curtain behind the figure, creating a more fully developed cast shadow; a patch of left-to-right diagonal shading (\\\) crosses the rung of the chair at lower left.
State 4 (cancelled)
Cancelled with horizontal, diagonal and zigzag lines.