UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

Gateway, Chartreuse, near Loches

Impression: Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art
(1903.167)
Number: 421
Date: 1888
Medium: etching
Size: 135 x 99 mm
Signed: butterfly at lower left
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 1
Known impressions: 2
Catalogues: K.396; M.395
Impressions taken from this plate  (2)

KEYWORD

bird, carriage, chateau, gate, horse, lodge, town.

TITLE

Variations on the title are as follows:


'Gateway - Chartreux' [sic] (1888, Whistler). 1
'Gateway - Chartreux, Loches' (1888, Whistler). 2
'Gateway, Chartreaux near Loches' (1888, Whistler). 3
'Gateway, Chartreuse' (1902, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 4
'Gateway, Chartreux' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 5
'The Gateway, Chartreux, Loches.' (1903/1935, possibly Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958)). 6


'Gateway, Chartreuse, near Loches' is the preferred title, with the spelling of Chartreuse corrected.

1: Written on Graphic with a link to impression #K3960102.

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

3: Whistler to Dowdeswells, 10 December 1888, GUW #13029.

4: Kennedy 1902 (cat. no. 344).

5: Mansfield 1909 (cat. no. 395).

6: Envelope containing copper plate, University of Glasgow.

DESCRIPTION

A driveway, fenced on the right, leads up to a massive open stone gateway with a round arch, and posts surmounted by urns, at the right of a lodge. Through the entrance a horse and carriage and a woman's figure are seen. There are trees in the distance. In the foreground at right are two peacocks.

SITE

The entrance gateway at La Chartreuse du Liget at Chemillé-sur-Indrois near Loches, Touraine, France. The Carthusian monastery was founded in 1178 and expanded over the centuries into a centre of contemplation and learning surrounded by a substantial estate, with forest and farms around the walled enclosures. The walls were pulled down and the monastery disbanded at the time of the French Revolution. It was then sold, in 1837, to Côme-Édmond de Marsay and passed to his descendants, who were gradually restoring the estate at the time of the Whistler's visit in 1888. 7

7: Albert Philippon, La Chartreuse du Liget, Tours, 1935, pp. 36 and f.p.44; see also 'La chartreuse du Liget à Chemillé-sur-Indrois' in Autour de Tours at http://autour-de-tours.blogspot.com/ 2011/03/l a-chartreuse-du-liget-chemille-sur.html (accessed 2012).