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Elinor Leyland |  Hunterian Art Gallery (46776) | |
| Number: | 137 | |
| Date: | 1874 | |
| Medium: | drypoint | |
| Size: | 214 x 139 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at right | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | 'Cancelled Plates', 1879 | |
| No. of States: | 8 | |
| Known impressions: | 30 | |
| Catalogues: | K.109; M.108; T.78; W.95 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (30) | ||
STATE
Eight states are known before cancellation.
State 1
It is not signed or inscribed.
The composition is complete.
State 2
Signed with a butterfly at the centre of the right edge.
Vertical lines are added in the background, particularly at upper left and right; the shading at left, on each side of her right arm, now touches the arm.
State 3
New, close vertical shading augments and extends the background shadows, reaching nearly to the top of the plate
The impression reproduced has considerable burr.
State 4
Light vertical shading is added to the background, particularly at upper left; there is a slanting scratch above Elinor's head; the background may have been lightly rubbed down.
State 5
The butterfly is shaded; the lines of the legs and much of the shading to left of them has been erased; new diagonal lines run from the newly positioned and half-drawn foot towards back left; horizontal lines run to the right from below her left elbow; new roughly vertical lines are added at left, extending the shading to the left edge; several series of short, strong lines reinforce the shading on the dress; the original background shading is fading.
In several impressions, including the one reproduced, heavy inking obscures the lines of the legs.
State 6
The legs are redrawn, and the shadows behind and to left of them are reinforced with new diagonal lines.
The impression reproduced is heavily inked, accentuating the drypoint burr and blurring the lines.
State 7
Several slanting lines run from the lower part of the skirt towards the right, almost under the butterfly.
The impression reproduced has not been located; it appears to have a printer's crease above the butterfly, running across the middle. It was reproduced as state 6 in Kennedy's catalogue of 1910. 8
8: Kennedy 1910 , cat. no. 109 VI.
State 8
The head has been redrawn, and is more round; new diagonal shading crosses the vertical shading in the background, each side of the head and along her right shoulder and arm; the wavy outline of the skirt at left has been changed to a long curve; several short and long diagonal lines are added to and near her left shoulder and the right side of the dress, and slightly extend the skirt at lower right.
The impression reproduced has not been located; the paper appears to have been scraped with a knife or needle, changing the shape of the bust and making it wider. It was reproduced as state 7 in Kennedy's catalogue of 1910. 9
9: Kennedy 1910 , cat. no. 109 VII.
State 8 (cancelled)
Cancelled with light diagonal lines of burnishing across the figure.
In some impressions, the cancelled lines are barely visible, and it is not clear if an attempt was made to remove them or whether the drypoint has merely worn down (i.e. 
).
).