UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

It was published as 'Early Morning (Battersea)', No. 15 in A Series of Sixteen Etchings of Scenes on the Thames (the 'Thames Set'), by Ellis & Green, London, in 1871.

In 1874 it was shown as 'Cadogan Pier' with the touring collection of James Anderson Rose (1819-1890) in Liverpool and elsewhere, and was exhibited, in the same year, as 'Battersea Dawn' by Whistler himself, in his first one-man show in London. 14

Impressions were shown in clubs for connoisseurs and collectors like the Union League Club in New York in 1881, to which an impression described as a 'Very delicate etching', was lent by Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) (). 15 An impression was shown at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. 16

It was also included in print dealer's exhibitions such as those of Craibe Angus in Glasgow in 1879, and both Frederick Keppel (1845-1912) of F. Keppel & Co. (in 1902) and H. Wunderlich & Co. (1898, 1903) in New York. Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) bought one from Wunderlich's in 1898 (). 17

Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) lent one impression to the exhibition organised by the Caxton Club in Chicago in 1900 () and Freer lent another (either , or ). 18

Finally, after Whistler's death, an impression was shown at the comprehensive Memorial Exhibition at the Grolier Club, New York in 1904. An impression was also lent by Francis Bullard (1862-1913) to the Whistler Memorial show in Boston in 1904 (), and another came from the Royal Collection to the Memorial Exhibition in London in 1905. 19

'Batt. Dawn.' is listed with three other etchings: '"Limehouse"...Warehouses . Black Lion Wharf' (that is, Limehouse [48], Thames Warehouses [46], Black Lion Wharf [54]) in a section of a notebook started probably after Whistler returned from Valparaiso in 1866, and possibly after he moved into 2 Lindsey Row in Chelsea (now 96 Cheyne Walk) in 1867. 20 The list could relate to printing or marketing these works.

The Victoria & Albert Museum was the first public collection to buy the complete 'Thames Set' from the publishers, Ellis & Green, on 26 May 1871, at £12.12.0 for the set, including this print as No. 15 'Early Morning (Battersea)' (). Constantine Alexander Ionides (1833-1900) bequeathed another impression to the V&A in 1901 (). The British Museum acquired an impression in 1874 (). E.D. Wallace (fl. 1871-1887), poet, novelist and writer on art, reported in considerable detail on a visit to the British Museum to see Whistler's works:

'let us go to the temple of art and science, and, provided with a "reader's ticket," and "special admission to the print room," we find in a row of elegantly bound folio cases, labeled "Etchings of British Artists," the jealously guarded works of Mr. Whistler, of Baltimore. We are cautioned by the clerk, who unlocks an immense case of pictures handsomely mounted on gilt edged boards, "to handle the treasures carefully," for there are no duplicates if those exquisite drypoints, and the British Museum is the only place in the world where they can be seen. We groan inwardly and are ashamed to confess we are Americans who must come to England to discover the merits and distinctions of our own people swallowed up in the British art schools. ... The very first glance at Mr. Whistler's etchings is sufficient for a lover of art to learn that every picture is copied from nature direct, and each subject has its characteristic point brought out by a master hand. Whether a river scene in open daylight, or a cabaret by lamplight, ... all are fully expressed, boldly or delicately, as the fancy may seize the artist, and every touch of the needle leaves a striking detail of the perfect composition of a rare genius. ...There are twenty views at least of the Thames and its bridges, some full of life and movement - steamboats puffing and paddling up and down the stream, crowds of foot-passengers eagerly pushing their way over the river thoroughfares and vessels loading and unloading their freight on the banks and wharves of the river. Others are sluggish in character - heavy barges drifting away with slack chains, entangling other smaller boats in the floating meshes; ..."Cadogan Pier" is a lovely, delicate etching, a happy view of open river and neatly-lined banks of dainty houses and picturesque spires. ... 21

Whistler was delighted with this review of his work and wrote, 'Your article is charming, my dear Mrs. Wallace - and with the description of the etchings & dry points will be perfect - ' 22

Early American collectors included George Aloysius Lucas (1824-1909) (), Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) () and Howard Mansfield (1849-1938) (, ). Two impressions were signed by Whistler in the 1890s and probably bought at that time by Francis Bullard (1862-1913) () and Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) (). The Boston Museum of Fine Arts bought an impression from Henry F. Sewall (1816-1896) in 1897 ().

At auction, it was more usually sold as part of the 'Thames Set'. A set was sold in 1877 to 'Smith' for £14.0.0. 23 At Christie’s, sets were sold in 1878 for £18.18.0 to the Fine Art Society, in 1881 to 'Taylor, R.' for £11.11.0 and in 1897 to 'Parsons' for £29.0.0. 24

Occasionally single impressions went to auction, fetching low prices. A single impression sold at auction in 1877 to the London print dealer W. Hogarth for £0.11.0. In March 1892 at the sale of the collection of the late Joshua Hutchinson Hutchinson (ca 1829 - d.1891), an impression was bought by Harrington - probably Henry Nazeby Harrington (1862-1937) - for £1.1.0, and at the sale of the collection of William Richard Drake (1817-1890) an impression on 'Japanese paper' was bought by Edmund F. Deprez (1851-1915) of Deprez & Gutekunst for £2.0.0. 25

Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), with his usual thoroughness, bought an impression of the second state from Frederick Keppel (1845-1912) of F. Keppel & Co., New York, in 1894 (), a cancelled impression (as well as the cancelled copper plate) from the same dealer in 1896 () and a first state from the collection of Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910) through H. Wunderlich & Co., also of New York, in 1898 ().

Two impressions (one cancelled) now in the Cabinet des estampes, Bibliothèque nationale de France, were acquired from Keppel in 1903 (, ). The Keppels were closely involved in sales of this etching, and David Keppel gave one to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1913 (), and to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1917 ().