St James's Street |  Freer Gallery of Art (1892.20) | |
| Number: | 178 | |
| Date: | 1878 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 275 x 155 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at lower left (3-final) | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 4 | |
| Known impressions: | 36 | |
| Catalogues: | K.169; M.165; W.140 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (36) | ||
The copper plate, originally 275 x 155mm was cut down to 275 x 152mm before the printing of the final state. It may have been sold at the time of Whistler's bankruptcy, or by the proprietors of Vanity Fair, who published a reversed image of an impression in 1878. 9
9: Vanity Fair, vol. 22, 2 July 1878.
The copper plate was eventually acquired by an American firm, the Rouillier Galleries in Chicago. It was lent by George Dunbar of the Rouillier Galleries to Paul Ashbrook (1867-1949), an illustrator, painter, etcher and lithographer, who 'pulled several impressions.' 10 Finally, the copper plate was cancelled with a grid of vertical and horizontal lines. It was bought by Lessing Julius Rosenwald (1891-1971) and given to the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC in 1943. 11
10: Letter from R.W. Ashbrook to R. Fine, 28 November 1990, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.
11: Acc. No. 1943.3.1730.