UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

building, people, shop, street, streetscape, town.

One title predominates, with few variations, as follows:


'Rue des Bons Enfants, Tours ' (1887/1888, Whistler). 1
'Rue des Bon Enfants' (1889, Whistler). 2
'Rue des Bons Enfants, Tours' (1902, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 3


'Rue des Bons Enfants, Tours' is the original and established title.

A view down a narrow street to a four-storey building on the cross street at the end. There are windows on the top three floors, the first and second floor having open louvred shutters, and the top, a small square window, also open. Figures look out from the second floor over a small wrought-iron balcony. On the ground floor, at left, is a wide open entrance (Mansfield describes this as a passageway). 4 There are figures in the shadowy interior, and over the entrance, a small window with closed louvred shutters, and the number '23'. To right is a tall window, with square panes, and goods - possibly bottles - on the upper shelves.

The narrow cobbled Rue des Bons Enfants, in the town of Tours, France. It is off the Rue du President Merville, close to the rue P. L. Courier (where Whistler etched Courtyard, Rue P. L. Courier, Tours [391]), and runs west into the Place de Chateauneuf.

Fine commented on the composition and style: 'Evident is Whistler's continuing interest in facades and in views through windows, doorways and passages. But he is no longer as finicky about subtleties and nuances as he was in Venice. Spontaneity is more to the point.' 5