Sketches on the Coast Survey Plate |  Freer Gallery of Art (1897.17) | |
| Number: | 1 | |
| Date: | 1854 | |
| Medium: | etching | |
| Size: | 149 x 253 mm | |
| Signed: | 'J.W.' at upper left | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 28 | |
| Catalogues: | K.1; M.1; T.- | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (28) | ||
This is one of two plates etched by Whistler in 1854 when he worked in the Engraving Division of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in Washington, DC., between 7 November 1854
and 12 February 1855. It may date from November 1854.
Discussing Whistler's work at the Coast Survey, the Pennells recorded:
'Only two plates have been as yet ... found that can be attributed to him, wholly or in part. These are Coast Survey, No. 1, and Coast Survey, No. 2, Anacapa Island. They are undescribed by Mr Wedmore, though referred to in his preface to the Catalogue of Whistler's Etchings.' 1
1: Pennell 1908, I, pp. 44-5; Wedmore 1899.