Etchings Institutions search term: dowdeswell
Amsterdam, from the Tolhuis |  Freer Gallery of Art (1898.327) | |
| Number: | 99 | |
| Date: | 1863 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 134 x 211 mm | |
| Signed: | 'Whistler' at lower right (1-final); butterfly at lower right (7-final) | |
| Inscribed: | '1863. / à Amsterdam - Tolhuis. - -' at lower right | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 8 | |
| Known impressions: | 26 | |
| Catalogues: | K.91; M.91; T.82; W.82 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (26) | ||
STATE
Eight states are known before cancellation.
State 1
Signed 'Whistler - 1863.' and inscribed 'à Amsterdam - Tolhuis. - -' at lower right.
The composition is complete; the clouds are strongly etched and fill the sky; the rope hanging from the rigging at upper left has two outlines.
State 2
The rope at upper left has been partly removed; there is a dark spot of corrosion or foul biting in the water just under the quayside at left.
The impression reproduced has several round stains or fox marks.
State 3
The rope at upper left has been redrawn in drypoint as one line; shading on the cloud in the centre (above and to left of the dark sail) has been partly burnished out.
In later impressions of this state the spot of foul biting or corrosion at left has been removed, as in the impression reproduced below.
State 4
The rope at upper left has been removed.
State 5
The upper parts of the masts in the foreground and nearly all of the lines in the sky are partly burnished out.
State 6
The upper parts of the taller masts have been redrawn; clouds and rays of light are added lightly in drypoint.
State 7
Signed with a butterfly, to left of the signature, at lower right.
State 8
The date has been partly erased.
Lines in the sky are partly erased or have worn down; the rays of light are practically invisible.
State 8 (cancelled)
Cancelled with a diagonal line.
No impression from the cancelled plate is known. This is a digital image based on the copper plate. 13
No impression from the cancelled plate is known. This is a digital image based on the copper plate. 13
13: A scan of the copper plate was flipped horizontally, converted to greyscale, and colour inverted, with enhanced contrast.