En Plein Soleil |  Art Institute of Chicago (1934.620) | |
| Number: | 11 | |
| Date: | 1858 | |
| Medium: | etching | |
| Size: | 101 x 136 mm | |
| Signed: | 'Whistler' upside-down at upper left; 'Whistler.' at lower left | |
| Inscribed: | 'Imp. Delatre. Rue St. Jacques. 171.' at lower right (3) | |
| Set/Publication: | 'French Set', 1858 | |
| No. of States: | 3 | |
| Known impressions: | 44 | |
| Catalogues: | K.15; M.12; T.4; W.6 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (44) | ||
En Plein Soleil was etched in 1858 and published in November 1858 with the Twelve Etchings from Nature ( the 'French Set').
Lochnan cites Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910), as the source of information on a possible sequence of etchings made in Paris before Whistler's Rhine trip (which took place between 14 August / 7 October 1858). These were La Rétameuse [26], En Plein Soleil [11], La Mère Gérard [24], Fumette [12], and La Mère Gérard, Stooping [25]. However, there seems no particular reason to separate the two portraits of Mère Gérard. Given that only a few months are involved, some of the etchings could certainly date from just after the Rhine trip. 1
1: Lochnan 1984, pp. 28, 29, 31, 57, 226.