'Venus' (Nettie Pettigrew) |  Hunterian Art Gallery (46974) | |
| Number: | 363 | |
| Date: | 1887/1890 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 191 x 267 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at right | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 7 | |
| Catalogues: | K.343; M.341 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (7) | ||
'Venus' (Nettie Pettigrew) dates from between 1887 and the early 1890s. The signature is unusual and cannot be dated precisely.
The technique suggests a date in the late 1880s. The model, Bessie Pettigrew (b. 1869), was posing for Whistler around 1890. The languid sensuality of the figure can be compared to other etchings of the Pettigrew sisters, such as Cameo, No. 1 (Mother and Child) [459], reproduced below, which is dated 1891.
The setting and pose could also be related to another Pettigrew study, the colour lithograph Draped Figure, Reclining [c056], which dates from 1892.