UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

Rochester Row, Westminster

Impression: Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
(1938.1924)
Number: 383
Date: 1888
Medium: etching and drypoint
Size: 152 x 228 mm
Signed: butterfly at left
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 4
Known impressions: 5
Catalogues: K.269; M.265; W.219
Impressions taken from this plate  (5)

KEYWORD

awning, building, cart, children, church, fish shop, people, shop-front, street.

TITLE

There are two variations on the title, as follows:


'Rochester Row' (1889, Whistler). 2
'Rochester Row Westminster ' (1890/1891, Whistler). 3
'Rochester Row' (1899, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 4
'Rochester Row, Westminster' (1910, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 5


The slightly longer and more informative version of the title, was used by Whistler and accepted, with the addition of punctuation, 'Rochester Row, Westminster', by E. G. Kennedy.

2: List, 18 July 1889, GUW #13235.

3: List, [1890/1891], GUW #13236.

4: Wedmore 1899 (cat. no. 219).

5: ;Kennedy 1910 (cat. no. 269).

DESCRIPTION

A row of two- and three-storey buildings is seen across a wide street, which curves into the distance at left. In the far distance, at left, appears the top of a tower surmounted by a flagpole. Nearest the viewer are three shop-fronts, the two at the left having awnings. A market cart stands in front of the shop at left, and another is sketched in the distance at left; between them are two lamp-posts.There is a single window on the first floor of the central shop, and to left of the window, a poster advertises 'DAILY TELEGRAPH'; in front of this shop there is a small stretch of railings. The shop at right has a large window with plates or bowls displaying goods on a deep, slanting table. There are people in the shop doorways, and on the pavement at far right are two children.

SITE

Comparative image
A row of shops in Greycoat Place, seen from the north side of Rochester Row, looking to right; Greycoat Hospital was opposite. The view is reversed as usual in the print, so that the tower of Westminster Abbey, which is actually in the distance to right, appears at far left of the print. The fishmonger's shop, with its sloping slab, is the most easily identifiable, on the right of the print. The premises in Greycoat Place were as follows:
1. Mrs Susannah Trask, haberdasher.
2. Miss Elizabeth Westall, oil warehouse.
3. George Stratton, jr., butcher.
4. John Witchlow, fishmonger.
6. 'Admiral Nelson', William Beat, publican.
8. John Thomas Wadham, confectioner.
9. Gray & Sons, Builders.
10. Leonard Blake, butcher.
12. William Proud, hairdresser.
13. Mrs Eliza Early, dressmaker. 6

6: London Postal Directory, 1886.

This is one of numerous views of Chelsea shops, and one of two in Westminster - the other is York Street, Westminster [382].