UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

Nocturne Shipping

Impression: Hunterian Art Gallery
Hunterian Art Gallery
(53568)
Number: 206
Date: 1879/1880
Medium: drypoint
Size: 157 x 222 mm
Signed: no
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 5
Known impressions: 8
Catalogues: K.223; M.220; W.194
Impressions taken from this plate  (8)

STATE

Six states are known before cancellation.

State 1

Impression: K2230102
There is no signature or inscription.
Sailing ships and their reflections are sketched along the horizon line, with a series of vertical lines at far left and some fine horizontals on the water at lower centre; patches of scraping marks appear on the sky and water, most prominently on the right side of the image.

State 2

Impression: K2230202
A long band of short vertical lines, indicating buildings, is added at left, and a short band of verticals on the water strengthens their reflection; diagonal lines are added to the rigging of the group of three ships to left of centre; a band of fine parallel lines is added to the sky at centre; horizontal lines are added to the water at left and centre; most scraping marks are removed.

State 3

Impression: K2230301
The long band of short vertical lines at left is extended further to the right by a band of diagonal lines; very fine diagonal shading is added above the vertical band immediately to left of the new band of diagonals; a slightly curving horizontal line defines the shoreline between the group of three ships to left of centre and the two ships immediately to their right; a few fine vertical and horizontal lines are added to the reflections of the buildings at left; fine verticals are added to the reflections of the ships to left of centre and the large vessel at right.

State 4

Impression: K2230403
Six strong vertical lines are added to the reflections below the buildings at the extreme left; two new patches of diagonal shading appear above the buildings at left; an indistinct building is added between the two small ships to right of centre and the series of masts at right; the largest ship to left of centre now has two masts and more diagonal lines added to the rigging, bow and bowsprit; fine shading is added to the bows of the two ships at right.
Most impressions of this state are printed with the lines lightly inked and considerable plate tone on the sky and water. Effects of inking vary, and it is quite difficult to 'read' all the lines on these impressions. An example of a very different impression of this state is included below.
Impression: K2230404

State 5

Impression: K2230601
The masts and rigging of the leftmost ships are redrawn, and the reflection beneath them is now shaped like an arrowhead; shading is added to the hulls of the two ships immediately to left of centre, their masts are redrawn, yards added to the masts and three prominent vertical reflections added to the water below their hulls; the two small ships to right of centre have been redrawn and now appear to be just one vessel; the indistinct building between the ship to right of centre and the masts at right now has a dome with distinct right to left diagonals (///); left to right diagonals (\\\) cover the space between the ship at left and the domed building; the leftmost mast and rigging above the two large ships at right have been removed and there is a new thin mast immediately to left of the central mast; the central mast now has yards, and the prominent masts to left and right of it are more clearly drawn, with more rigging added to the mast at left; considerable new shading alters the shapes of the large hulls and bowsprits at right, and their hulls now merge with reflections immediately below them; vertical lines are added to the water below the heavy reflections; very fine horizontal lines replace the indistinct buildings along the horizon at far right.
Precise identification of the lines on impressions of the fourth and final state is difficult, given the combination of plate tone and fine drypoint lines.
Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932) considered that there was another state before this final state but it was probably a late or lightly inked impression of our state 5, rather than another state. 6

6: Kennedy 1910 (cat. no. 223).

State 5 (cancelled)

Etching: PS_K223_01 (plate)
Cancelled with one diagonal line.

No impression from the cancelled plate is known. This is a digital image based on the copper plate. 7

7: A scan of the copper plate was flipped horizontally, converted to greyscale, and colour inverted, with enhanced contrast.