Etchings Institutions search term: obach
Dipping the Flag |  Hunterian Art Gallery (46937) | |
| Number: | 308 | |
| Date: | 1887 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 82 x 178 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at lower left | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 4 | |
| Known impressions: | 10 | |
| Catalogues: | K.325; M.319; W.242 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (10) | ||
TECHNIQUE
The minimal etched lines of the composition were touched up with a few light patches of drypoint to soften the horizon and sky.
PRINTING
Whistler kept a 'Printing List' of the 'Naval Review Set'. By 19 August 1887 he had six impressions of 'Dipping the Flag' in stock (another column mentions seven, but is not dated), and printed a further three on 28 August, five on 1 September, three on 4 September, and two on 26 September. 7 This ought to mean a total of about twenty, but only about half that number have been located, suggesting that the list includes a record of works in stock.
7: [18 August- 26 September 1887], GUW #13234.
Impressions were printed in dark brown ink on ivory laid paper (i.e. 
, ), one with a Strasbourg Lily watermark () and another with an 'IV' countermark (); also in dark brown on medium weight ivory 'antique' (pre-1800) laid paper with brown fibres (). A few are in black ink, for instance, one on cream laid (, ) and another on ivory laid paper (). Several are selectively and sensitively wiped with light, graduated ink tone (i.e. , ). All are trimmed to the platemark and signed on the tab with the butterfly and 'imp.' to show that Whistler printed them.
, ), one with a Strasbourg Lily watermark () and another with an 'IV' countermark (); also in dark brown on medium weight ivory 'antique' (pre-1800) laid paper with brown fibres (). A few are in black ink, for instance, one on cream laid (, ) and another on ivory laid paper (). Several are selectively and sensitively wiped with light, graduated ink tone (i.e. , ). All are trimmed to the platemark and signed on the tab with the butterfly and 'imp.' to show that Whistler printed them.