UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

The etching was published as 'Limehouse' with A Series of Sixteen Etchings of Scenes on The Thames and other Subjects (the 'Thames Set') by Messrs Ellis and Green in 1871.

Limehouse was first shown at the Royal Academy in 1861, when F. G. Stephens commented, 'An original etching by the same and felicitous hand, ... should not be overlooked in the Octagon room; where also should be noticed his two remarkable etchings of shipping scenes on the banks of the Thames at London.' 18

Several etchings from the 'Thames Set' were exhibited at Martinet's gallery in Paris in 1862 and praised by Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867). This etching may have been what inspired Baudelaire in his praise of Whistler's choice and treatment of subject matter:

'merveilleux fouillis d'agrès, de vergues, de cordages; chaos de brumes, de fourneaux, et de fumées tire-bouchonnées; poésie profonde et compliquée d'une vaste capitale.'
[Translated:] 'A marvellous tangle of rigging, yardarms and rope; a chaos of fog, furnaces and gushing smoke; the profound and complicated poetry of a vast capital.' 19

In the following year, in 1863, a very fine impression was exhibited at the Salon in Paris and was acquired by George Aloysius Lucas (1824-1909) (). 20

After publication in 1871, an impression was shown by James Anderson Rose (1819-1890) in Liverpool and elsewhere and one by Whistler himself, in London, in 1874. 21 One went with a selection of Whistler's other etchings to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1879. Impressions were shown in print dealer's exhibitions by Craibe Angus in Glasgow, Frederick Keppel (1845-1912) and H. Wunderlich & Co. in New York. Impressions also starred in private shows for connoisseurs and collectors; for instance, Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) lent what was termed a 'Trial Proof' to the Union League Club in New York in 1881 (). 22 One impression, lent by Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916), was shown in the Caxton Club in Chicago in 1900 (). 23

Impressions were also included in the principal Memorial Exhibitions after Whistler's death, including New York and Boston in 1904 and one lent by King Edward VII to the London exhibition in 1905. 24

A second state of Limehouse was the first of Whistler's etchings to be sold to a public collection. It was then listed as 'Curtis Gin' and was among 16 etchings sold for a total of £10.10.10 by Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910) to South Kensington Museum on 1 January 1861 (). 25 Two years later Whistler sold another impression of the second state to the British Museum for £1.1.0 (). 26

The title causes confusion since Whistler's sales record a 'Limehouse', 'Limehouse Wharf' and 'From Limehouse'. For instance, 'Limehouse Wharf' was sold by Whistler to the Royal Library, Windsor, for £4.4.0 in 1877. 27

At auction a 'first state' of Limehouse fetched £3.5.0. at the Philippe Burty (1830-1890) sale at Sotheby's in 1876, but another - presumably a less interesting impression - brought only £.0.19.0 in the following year. 28 Ten years later, an early proof described as 'trial proof on Japanese paper, before any indications of sky' from the collection of John W. Wilson (dates unknown), fetched £6.6.0. 29 In the same year Whistler himself bought back an impression that had been owned by Edmond Gosselin (1849-1917), for 50 francs, and sold it on to J. Craibe Angus (fl. 1865-1901). 30

Some impressions, though undoubtedly dating from between 1859 and 1871, were returned to Whistler for signing later - Hermann Wunderlich (ca 1839- d.1892) of Wunderlich & Co., for instance, probably asked Whistler to sign one, before selling it to Francis Bullard (1862-1913) of Boston (). Whistler himself gave one to Henry Lee Higginson (1834-1919) also of Boston ().

Frederick Keppel (1845-1912) of F. Keppel & Co. sold an impression from the cancelled plate () and the plate itself to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) in 1896, and gave a similar set to the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris ().