Fleur-de-lys Passage |  Hunterian Art Gallery (46904) | |
| Number: | 360 | |
| Date: | 1887 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 185 x 82 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at upper left | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 4 | |
| Known impressions: | 11 | |
| Catalogues: | K.289; M.286; W.233 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (11) | ||
PUBLICATION
Fleur-de-lys Passage was not published. However, it forms one of Whistler's unpublished but clearly defined 'Houndsditch Set'.
EXHIBITIONS
An impression was lent by Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) to the exhibition organised by the Caxton Club in Chicago in 1900 (
). 11 No other exhibitions are known until the year of Whistler's death in 1903, when impressions were shown by Obach & Co. in London and H. Wunderlich & Co. in New York, and one was bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) () at the latter. 12
In the following year one was exhibited at the Grolier Club in New York. Finally in 1905 King Edward VII lent one to the Whistler Memorial Exhibition in London (). 13
). 11 No other exhibitions are known until the year of Whistler's death in 1903, when impressions were shown by Obach & Co. in London and H. Wunderlich & Co. in New York, and one was bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) () at the latter. 12 In the following year one was exhibited at the Grolier Club in New York. Finally in 1905 King Edward VII lent one to the Whistler Memorial Exhibition in London (
). 13 11: Chicago 1900 (cat. no. 203); see REFERENCES : EXHIBITIONS.
12: New York 1903b (cat. no. 183).
13: New York 1904a (cat. no. 246); London Mem. 1905 (cat. no. 233).
SALES & COLLECTORS
The first sale recorded was on 17 November 1887 when Whistler sold one 'Fleur [de] Lis passage' to the London print dealer, Thomas M. McLean (b. ca 1832) for £10.10.0. On 16 December 1887 an impression was offered by Whistler's son, Charles James Whistler Hanson (1870-1935), to another print dealer, W. Craibe Angus in Glasgow, also for £10.10.0. 14
On 7 February 1888 Whistler acknowledged payment of £10.10.0 received for 'Fleur de Lis Passage Houndsditch' from the London art dealers, Messrs Dowdeswell. 15 There are small variations in the title as given in the different sales records. The overlapping orders and receipts are not entirely clear but they seem to have bought another two 'Fleur des Lis Passage' on 10 February. 16 One was almost certainly sold by Dowdeswell's to Henry Studdy Theobald (1847-1934) and acquired later by Margaret Selkirk Watson Parker (1867-1936), who bequeathed it to the University of Michigan Art Museum ().
).In 1888 H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, ordered an impression as part of a much larger order. However, they wrote:
'We beg to acknowledge the receipt of the etchings which arrived from the Custom House this evening ...
There is time to inform you before the mail closes, that we shall look them over carefully, make our selection, send those not retained to Mr Winans, and advise you promptly, which proofs have been selected. Upon checking off the list we find that one of the proofs #48 "Fleur de lis - passage" is missing. We have looked for it carefully, but there is not the slightest trace of it, so it must have been omitted in London.' 17
17: Kennedy to Whistler, 20 April 1888, GUW #07157.
It is not clear if they found it or if Whistler sent another, but by 14 May 1888 a receipt by Whistler included '48 - Fleur des Lis Passage - Houndsditch' at £10.10.0. 18 As Wunderlich's became Whistler's main American agents, they bought an impression for £6.6.0, after their discount. 19
Whistler often received much higher prices than were seen at auction. For instance, an impression from the collection of the late Joshua Hutchinson Hutchinson (ca 1829 - d.1891) was sold at Sotheby’s, 3 March 1892 (lot 314) and bought by the London print dealer Robert Dunthorne (b. ca 1851) for only £3.5.0.
Whistler often received much higher prices than were seen at auction. For instance, an impression from the collection of the late Joshua Hutchinson Hutchinson (ca 1829 - d.1891) was sold at Sotheby’s, 3 March 1892 (lot 314) and bought by the London print dealer Robert Dunthorne (b. ca 1851) for only £3.5.0.
The first proof was retained by the artist, bequeathed by Whistler in 1903 to Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), and bequeathed by her to the University of Glasgow ().
).