UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

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The Wine Shop, Amboise

Impression: Library of Congress
Library of Congress
(FP-XIX-W576, no. 370)
Number: 430
Date: 1888
Medium: etching and drypoint
Size: 175 x 127 mm
Signed: butterfly at right
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 1
Known impressions: 1
Catalogues: K.370; M.370
Impressions taken from this plate  (1)

KEYWORD

children, courtyard, façade, flowers, shop, shop girls, window, wine, woman standing.

TITLE

Variations on the title are as follows:


'FILS COUVREUR' (1888, Whistler). 1
'The Wine Shop. Amboise (French Plates)' (1887/1888, Whistler). 2
'Wine Shop' (1890/1891, Whistler). 3
'The Wine Shop' (1904, Grolier Club). 4
'The Wine-Shop' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 5


'The Wine Shop, Amboise' is the fullest title used by Whistler, and therefore preferred to later variations.

1: Etched the copper plate, on a shop sign.

2: List, [1887/1888], GUW #13233.

3: List, [1890/1891], GUW #13236.

4: New York 1904a (cat. no. 354).

5: Mansfield 1909 (cat. no. 370).

DESCRIPTION

A view of a shop front, drawn parallel to the edges of the copper plate. The building was built of stone. At the top are two windows, with pots of flowers on the sills. Between the windows a shrub is growing out of the wall. Below, on the left, is a shop-front with the sign: 'FILS COUVREUR.' In front of the shop a woman stands with a child in her arms, facing away and to right. At her left is a child wearing a sunbonnet, and at her right are three children, barely outlined. To right, steps lead to a passageway bearing the number '45', which leads to a courtyard. At the far end of the courtyard, at left, is a large window, and to right an open doorway in which a woman is standing.

SITE

Amboise is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department of central France. It lies on the banks of the Loire, 14 miles east of Tours. Other etchings done there include Château d'Amboise [431] and The Clock Tower - Amboise [429].

DISCUSSION

Whistler often sat in cafés and restaurants to work in comfort, and etched a variety of café and drinking subjects including The Dutchman Holding A Glass [4], The Wine Glass [38], Longshore men [52], Soupe à trois sous [64], Ratcliffe Highway [65], Café Luxembourg [436], Café Corazza, Paris [484] and Marchande de Vin, Ajaccio [485].