Old Westminster Bridge |  Freer Gallery of Art (1898.266) | |
| Number: | 47 | |
| Date: | 1859 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 76 x 204 mm | |
| Signed: | 'Whistler' at lower left | |
| Inscribed: | '1859' at lower left | |
| Set/Publication: | 'Thames Set', 1871 | |
| No. of States: | 4 | |
| Known impressions: | 75 | |
| Catalogues: | K.39; M.38; T.36; W.36 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (75) | ||
The copper plate is stamped 'HUGHES & KIMBER / MANUFACTURERS/ RED LION SQUARE / FLEET STREET / LONDON' on the verso. It is almost exactly the same size as Thames Warehouses [46], which bears the same stamp and also dates from 1859. The two copper plates must have been bought at the same time to form part of the 'Thames Set' and might be considered a pair. In each case the narrow format complements and even exaggerates the horizontality of the composition.
Hughes & Kimber were Whistler's favourite suppliers and exactly the same stamp is seen on other etchings made in connection with the 'Thames Set', including Thames Warehouses [46], The Pool [49], Eagle Wharf [50], Thames Police [53], Black Lion Wharf [54] and W. Jones, Lime-Burner, Thames Street [55], in 1859, Old Hungerford Bridge [76], Battersea Dawn (Cadogan Pier) [95] and Millbank [78], all etched in and around 1861.
The plate was published with the 'Thames Set' in 1871. It was cancelled with a series of vertical lines and one horizontal line.
It was bought in 1896 by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), who bequeathed it to the Freer Gallery of Art. 13
It was bought in 1896 by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), who bequeathed it to the Freer Gallery of Art. 13
13: Acc. No. 1896.2.