UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

butcher, children, people, shop, window.

There are several variations on the title, as follows:

'Butchers - / Sandwich' (1880s, Whistler). 1
Possibly 'Doorway Church St.' (1889/1891, Whistler). 2
Possibly 'Doorway, Church Street' (1890/1892, Beatrice Whistler (1857-1896)). 3
'Butcher's Shop. - Kent' (1889, Whistler). 4
'Butchers Shop Kent' (1887/1888, Whistler). 5
'Butcher's Shop, Sandwich' (1902, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 6

The title 'Butcher's Shop, Sandwich, Kent' has been chosen, based on Whistler's titles. The butcher's shop was on the corner of Church Street, which explains the alternative title, but it is not absolutely certain that the title refers to this etching, since in fact the doorway does not dominate the scene.

There was a well-established family butcher's shop run by William Alfred Curling, pork butcher, at the corner of Church Street and Fisher Street in the town of Sandwich, Kent, UK. 7 Curling is listed as pork butcher at this address in Kelly's Directory for Kent for 1882, 1887 and 1899. The building is now altered and is a private house. It was close to the hotel where Whistler was staying, The Bell, at the corner of the High Street and Upper Strand Street. The view is reversed as usual in the print.

At left is the wide window of a corner shop, drawn parallel to the edge of the plate. Round the corner, to right, is the door to the shop, then a small window with open shutters, and another door at far right, with window ledges seen above. In the shop is a woman seated, one standing, and a third bending over a desk to right. Sunlight falls on the figures and on an open door at the back of the shop; hooks hang below the ceiling, along the far wall. Outside, between the window and doorway, stands a woman with a child in her arms, and down the street, at far right, a girl and child are walking away.