UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

dog, courtyard, hotel, market, people, shop, square, stall, town.

There are only minor variations in grammar and punctuation in the title, as follows:


'Little Market place Tours' (1887/1888, Whistler). 1
'Little Market Place - Tours' (1889, Whistler). 2
'Little Market Place' (1890/1892, Beatrice Whistler (1857-1896)). 3
'Little Market-Place, Tours' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 4


'Little Market Place, Tours' is the preferred title, and is based on Whistler's original title.

A cobbled market place, with booths under awnings on either side and three-storey houses at the left, with a street running across the end. On the far side of the street, from left to right, there is a three-storey house, a wide single-storey entrance to a courtyard under a large sign reading 'HOTEL'; a tall, two-storey high square-topped entrance to the same courtyard, with a plaque over it reading 'HALLES CENTRALES / RAIMOND [?] FILS'; and a two-storey symmetrical house with windows each side of the door, and windows with balconies each side of a plaque or signboard on the first floor. There are some people in the square and round the booths, and a dog in the foreground, at the left.

The 'Halles Centrales' (Central Market) in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France, was a large covered market in the Places des Halles, with stalls surrounding it.

Whistler recorded two etchings of the market, 'The Market Place Tours' and 'Little Market place Tours'. 5 The Market Place, Tours [388] shows a very different view, and is obviously not the same place.

During his honeymoon in 1888, Whistler etched several market scenes, small (The Market Place, Tours [388], Market Women: Turkeys [424], Booth, Market Place, Loches [425], Market Women, Loches [423]), medium sized (Little Market Place, Tours [389]) and large (Hôtel de Ville, Loches [412]). He etched 'large' and 'small' market scenes in Loches and Tours. In 1890/1892 Whistler's wife (who was present on his honeymoon!) listed several similar subjects among his etchings in a comprehensive survey of the studio, including: