Etchings Institutions search term: boston public library
The Steps, Amsterdam | ||
Number: | 452 | |
Date: | 1889 | |
Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
Size: | 242 x 166 mm | |
Signed: | butterfly at upper left | |
Inscribed: | no | |
Set/Publication: | no | |
No. of States: | 5 | |
Known impressions: | 14 | |
Catalogues: | K.403; M.402; W.260 | |
Impressions taken from this plate (14) |
STATE
Five states are known before cancellation.
State 1
Signed with a butterfly at upper left.
The composition is complete, except that the steps and reflections are barely indicated.
State 2
The top of each step is drawn in; the back and skirt of the girl facing the steps are shaded, and she casts a shadow to right; there are some additions, possibly in drypoint, including patches of shading in the water.
State 3
The five lower steps are finished and shaded; the wooden pilings supporting the cobbled pavement have been partly rubbed down and reworked; new shading is added in the water, reaching the bottom edge, and in the doorways; the shadow cast by the girl's leg on the cobbles has been removed; the head and body of the woman standing on the top of the steps are drawn in; the skirt of the woman in the doorway at left is shaded.
State 4
Longer fine vertical lines shade the steps, and the tops of the steps are more clearly defined; new shading is added on the wooden bulkhead above the canal.