UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

The copper plate has the maker's oval stamp: 'HUGHES & KIMBER (LIMITED) / MANUFACTURERS / LONDON E.C.' stamped twice on the verso. It is similar in size to the plates for several figure subjects (Florence Leyland [136], Sleeping Girl [127] and The Desk [129]) and some London scenes (Steamboat Fleet, Chelsea [155], Wych Street, London [176] and Under Old Battersea Bridge [168]). Most of these are also Hughes & Kimber plates.

The copper plate was cancelled with diagonal lines across the figure. The plate was probably among those sold at Whistler's bankruptcy, and possibly intended for publication in a set of Cancelled Etchings by the Fine Art Society in 1879. Most of the published sets contain 57 etchings, except for the set now in the Yale University Art Gallery, which contains additional prints, a total of 65.

Ten years later 68 'Published and unpublished' copper plates 'more or less scratched' from the collection of Alphonse Wyatt Thibaudeau (ca 1840- d.1892) were auctioned at Sotheby's, 13 December 1889 (lot 786) and bought by Robert Dunthorne (b. ca 1851) for £11.12.0. Most were returned after Whistler's death to Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958). The plate was given by Miss Philip to the University of Glasgow in 1935.

A virtual impression from the cancelled plate is shown in a digital image, reproduced below. 6