Etchings Institutions search term: dowdeswell
Old Putney Bridge |  Colby College Museum of Art, Maine (2013.400) | |
| Number: | 185 | |
| Date: | 1879 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 200 x 298 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at bottom (1-5); shaded (6-final) | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | Fine Art Society, 1879 | |
| No. of States: | 7 | |
| Known impressions: | 47 | |
| Catalogues: | K.178; M.175; W.145 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (47) | ||
STATE
Seven states are known before cancellation, which occurred in two stages.
State 1
Signed with a butterfly near the lower edge, just to right of centre.
The composition is complete.
State 2
The shadows on the bridge are strengthened.
State 3
Additions in drypoint include new vertical lines extending the reflections of the river bank, trees and buildings in the distance; new horizontal lines in the reflections of the pier in the centre; long horizontal lines among the ripples between the boats in the foreground and the bridge.
State 4
New vertical drypoint shading is added under the pier in the centre, extending the reflections; short vertical lines extend and augment the reflections under the river banks.
State 5
New vertical drypoint shading is added under the second pier from the left; more horizontal lines are added on the ripples in front of the bridge; light shading is added to the trees seen through the piers at far right; the reflection of the pier at extreme right is extended; new slanting lines shade the top of the cloud at the top.
State 6
The butterfly is shaded.
Published by The Fine Arts Society, London, in 1879.
State 7
Another row of ripples is added at lower right.
Some of the drypoint shading in the reflections under the piers has faded or been rubbed down.
Impressions vary considerably according to inking and wear. A late impression is reproduced below.
State 7 (cancelled a)
Cancelled with diagonal crossed lines.
State 7 (cancelled b)
Cancelled with additional zigzags and diagonal crossed lines.