Château pres Paimpol |  Whistler Etchings Project (-) | |
| Number: | 472 | |
| Date: | 1893/1900 | |
| Medium: | etching | |
| Size: | 140 x 94 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly to right of centre | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 1 | |
| Catalogues: | K.-; M.-; T.-; W.- | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (1) | ||
Chateau pres Paimpol may date from September 1893, when Whistler and his wife visited the town, staying in the Hotel Gicquel. Whistler described Paimpol in September as 'forlorn'. 1 He complained to Joseph Pennell (1860-1926):
1: Whistler to D.C. Thomson, [1/8 September 1893], GUW #08250.
'Here we are! - and where are we indeed! -
Well we shall be out of there directly - and glad of it too - This country business has been queer enough this time - The fact of it is I suppose that "Nature" has gone back on me altogether - and taken it out of me for my exposure of her "foolish sunsets" - Certainly her conduct during these last six weeks has been "sich" 2 , that I am heartily ashamed of her and have no desire to be left alone with her either in the fields or by the sea side, for a long time to come! -' 3
Well we shall be out of there directly - and glad of it too - This country business has been queer enough this time - The fact of it is I suppose that "Nature" has gone back on me altogether - and taken it out of me for my exposure of her "foolish sunsets" - Certainly her conduct during these last six weeks has been "sich" 2 , that I am heartily ashamed of her and have no desire to be left alone with her either in the fields or by the sea side, for a long time to come! -' 3
2: Meaning 'such'.
3: Whistler to J. Pennell, [1/8 September 1893], GUW #07773.
However, it may have been etched on a later, unrecorded visit. The butterfly signature is of a form that could date from later in the 1890s.