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The Muff |  Freer Gallery of Art (1892.4) | |
| Number: | 131 | |
| Date: | 1874 | |
| Medium: | drypoint | |
| Size: | 126 x 75 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at right (3-final) | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 4 | |
| Known impressions: | 11 | |
| Catalogues: | K.113; M.112; W.126 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (11) | ||
KEYWORD
clothing, dress, fur, fashion, hat, muff, portrait, woman seated.
TITLE
The title has been consistent, as in the following examples:
'THE MUFF' (1880, Dowdeswell). 2
'Muff' (1877, Whistler). 3
'The Muff' (1885/1887, Whistler). 4
'The Muff' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 5
'THE MUFF' (1880, Dowdeswell). 2
'Muff' (1877, Whistler). 3
'The Muff' (1885/1887, Whistler). 4
'The Muff' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 5
2: Dowdeswell to C. A. Howell, GUW #02856.
3: To C. A. Howell, 12 October-5 November [1877], GUW #12735.
4: Written on 
.
5: Wedmore 1886 A (cat. no. 126).
DESCRIPTION
A three-quarter length portrait of a lady seated facing to the right, wearing a hat trimmed with feathers and a dark jacket edged with fur. She holds in her lap a muff upon which rests her right hand. There is shading in the background. The figure is lit from the right.
SITTER
The sitter has not been identified.
DISCUSSION
Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921) responded to the portrait's charm:
'A young woman seated, having come to pay a morning call, and meaning to be pleasant ...
A scarce little dry-point, of elegant and refined triviality - if, indeed, it is to be trivial to be entirely of our day.' 6
6: Wedmore 1886 A (cat. no. 126).