Dordrecht |  National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (1943.3.8567) | |
| Number: | 259 | |
| Date: | 1886 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 153 x 230 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at lower left | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 2 | |
| Known impressions: | 13 | |
| Catalogues: | K.242; M.239; W.200 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (13) | ||
KEYWORD
boat, hotel, port, river, sailing ship, ship.
TITLE
Dordrecht was sometimes spelt in different ways by Whistler but the main variations on the title are as follows:
'Dortrecht' (1887, Whistler). 2
'Dordrecht' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 3
'Dordrecht' is the correct form of the town's name and is the title usually accepted for this etching.
'Dortrecht' (1887, Whistler). 2
'Dordrecht' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 3
'Dordrecht' is the correct form of the town's name and is the title usually accepted for this etching.
2: Whistler to Dowdeswell's, 28 April 1887, GUW #13020.
3: Wedmore 1886 A (cat. no. 200).
DESCRIPTION
A broad expanse of water, with, on the left, two boats with sails lowered, and on the right a sailing boat with a jib and a mainsail partly lowered, billowing in the wind, and partly hiding another sailing boat. In the centre there are sailing ships along the quayside, and, to left of these, a tall building with a dome near a clump of trees at the bend of the river. At right, and in the distance to left, there are ships on the river and buildings and trees along the banks.
SITE
The view is taken from Papendrecht, looking across the Merwede, with in the distance the Groothoofdspoort and the Hotel Bellevue in the town of Dordrecht in the Netherlands. 4
4: Heijbroek 1997, pp. 55, 59.