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The Steps, Gray's Inn |  Freer Gallery of Art (1888.17) | |
| Number: | 282 | |
| Date: | 1887 | |
| Medium: | etching | |
| Size: | 67 x 179 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at upper left | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 7 | |
| Catalogues: | K.295; M.290 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (7) | ||
KEYWORD
children, game, garden, Inns of Court, landscape, people, steps.
TITLE
Possible variations on the title are as follows:
Possibly 'The Garden Steps' (1887/1888, Whistler). 2
'Steps Gray's Inn' (1888, Whistler). 3
'Steps, Gray’s Inn' (1902, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 4
'Steps, Gray’s Inn' is the accepted title, using Whistler's title with regularised punctuation.
Possibly 'The Garden Steps' (1887/1888, Whistler). 2
'Steps Gray's Inn' (1888, Whistler). 3
'Steps, Gray’s Inn' (1902, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 4
'Steps, Gray’s Inn' is the accepted title, using Whistler's title with regularised punctuation.
2: List, [1887/1888], GUW #13233.
3: Whistler to Wunderlich's, 29 June 1888, GUW #13052.
4: Kennedy 1902 (cat. no. 283).
DESCRIPTION
In the foreground two women with three children are sitting on the grass; behind them to right are two boys playing with a ball. In the middle distance is a steep grassy bank with a broad flight of steps at the left, leading up to a terrace edged with flowering plants; on it there is a garden seat and several figures at left, and behind, a wall and iron paling. Two small children are climbing the steps. A slender leafy tree is on the grass to right of the steps, and another to right of the boys.
SITE
Gray's Inn, London. Gray's Inn was a sheltered green oasis in the city of London, where members of the legal profession had rooms. The walks and grounds were popular with nursemaids and mothers with children; it is still popular for lunchtime picnics!
Photograph ©M.F. MacDonald, Whistler Etchings Project, 2010.