UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

The Door of the Chapel, Montrésor

Impression: Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
(1934.557)
Number: 422
Date: 1888
Medium: etching
Size: 178 x 128 mm
Signed: butterfly at left
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 1
Known impressions: 4
Catalogues: K.395; M.392
Impressions taken from this plate  (4)

KEYWORD

architecture, building, chapel, child, church, door, Renaissance, shell, sculpture.

TITLE

There are a surprising number of variations on the title, as follows:


'The Door Chapéllé Montrésor' (1887/1888, Whistler). 1
'Doorway Chappele Montresor' (1889, Whistler). 2
'Doorway Chapelle Montresor' (1890/1891, Whistler). 3
'Door - Chapelle Montresor - France' (1890/1892, Beatrice Whistler (1857-1896)). 4
'Doorway, Montresor' (1898, Wunderlich's). 5
'Doorway, Montresor Chapel' (1900, Caxton Club). 6
'Chapel Doorway, Montresor' (1902, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 7
'The Door of the Chapel, Montresor, Loches' (1903/1935, possibly Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958)). 8


'The Door of the Chapel, Montrésor' is the title, based on Whistler's original title and that recorded by Miss Birnie Philip, with the spelling corrected.

1: List, [1887/1888], GUW #13233.

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

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

4: List, [1890/1892], GUW #12715.

5: New York 1898 (cat. no. 246).

6: Chicago 1900 (cat. no. E290).

7: Kennedy 1902 (cat. no. 341).

8: Envelope containing copper plate, University of Glasgow.

DESCRIPTION

In the foreground, at left, stands a small girl wearing a sunbonnet. To right two broad steps and three narrow ones lead up to a doorway with an elaborate door-frame surmounted by a large carved shell and small sculptured figures. On the door is a poster bearing an official announcement headed 'MINISTÈRE DE LA GUERRE.' To left of the doorway, and above the child, is a small barred window.

SITE

The town of Montrésor is in the Département of Indre-et-Loire, France. The Château de Montrésor is a medieval castle with a Renaissance mansion, restored in the 19th century. 9

The War Ministry poster could have concerned the conscription of young men during peace-time.

9: Abbé Louis-Claude-Athanase Buchet, Le chateau et l'eglise collegiale de Montresor [Indre- et- Loire], Tours, 1876; Abbé L-A. Bosseboeuf, Montresor, le chateau,...., Tours, 1897; Emile Vincent, Montresor. Les environs, l'histoire, l'eglise collegiale, le chateau, Tours, 1931.