Etchings Institutions search term: colby
Café Corazza, Paris |  Hunterian Art Gallery (46652) | |
| Number: | 484 | |
| Date: | 1897 | |
| Medium: | etching | |
| Size: | 133 x 221 mm | |
| Signed: | no | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 4 | |
| Catalogues: | K.436; M.432 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (4) | ||
TECHNIQUE
This is an unfinished etching.
PRINTING
Only four impressions are known. Two are in black ink on Asian laid paper (
, and ). Both are trimmed to the platemark and the first is signed with a butterfly on the tab - indeed it is the only signed impression. These impressions suggest that the printer - whether Whistler or an assistant or someone later - was having problems with the plate. The first impression mentioned appears to have slipped slightly in the printing (), and another impression, in dark brown ink on cream laid paper, appears to have been poorly inked, so that some of the lines print blind, with the ink caught on the edges of the lines (). Similar problems in printing occurred in a related plate, Boulevard Poissonière, Paris
[483]. This rarely happened in Whistler's work, but suggests he was having problems printing in Paris in the 1890s (see , , , ). These could be due to problems with the printing press, or an assistant, or his own strength.
, and ). Both are trimmed to the platemark and the first is signed with a butterfly on the tab - indeed it is the only signed impression. These impressions suggest that the printer - whether Whistler or an assistant or someone later - was having problems with the plate. The first impression mentioned appears to have slipped slightly in the printing (), and another impression, in dark brown ink on cream laid paper, appears to have been poorly inked, so that some of the lines print blind, with the ink caught on the edges of the lines (). Similar problems in printing occurred in a related plate, Boulevard Poissonière, Paris
[483]. This rarely happened in Whistler's work, but suggests he was having problems printing in Paris in the 1890s (see , , , ). These could be due to problems with the printing press, or an assistant, or his own strength.All of these impressions are trimmed to the platemark, with a tab left for a signature. However, only one is signed, both on the tab and in the image, with Whistler's butterfly ().
).