Café Luxembourg |  Freer Gallery of Art (1902.119) | |
| Number: | 436 | |
| Date: | 1888/1893 | |
| Medium: | etching | |
| Size: | 98 x 135 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at upper left | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 1 | |
| Catalogues: | K.434; M.425 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (1) | ||
KEYWORD
café, city, horse, people, shop.
TITLE
There is only one known title, as in the following examples:
'Café Luxembourg' (1899, ISSPG). 1
'Café Luxembourg' (1902, Whistler). 2
'Café Luxembourg' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 3
'Café Luxembourg' (1899, ISSPG). 1
'Café Luxembourg' (1902, Whistler). 2
'Café Luxembourg' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 3
1: London ISSPG 1899 (cat. no. 240).
2: Whistler to C. L. Freer, [23 March 1900/June 1902], GUW #13883.
3: Mansfield 1909 (cat. no. 425).
DESCRIPTION
Across the top half of the plate is the façade of a cafe with people sitting at tables on the pavement under an awning that bears the words 'BILLIAR[DS]' and 'CAFÉ R[illegible]'. At far left, beyond the awning, is a tall arched doorway, with a woman sitting outside and a figure standing to her left. At far right, at the edge of the pavement, stands a woman with a baby, and to her right, a gas lamp. Above the awning is the bottom of a row of windows, some shuttered, all with low iron-work window boxes. In the street in the foreground stand four horses, saddled, with a man holding one of them.
SITE
Possibly the Café Le Luxembourg at
58 Boulevard Saint-Michel, Paris, France. The presence of four saddled horses is a little surprising - but perhaps the riders had been riding in the park.