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Free Trade Wharf

Impression: Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art
(1888.36)
Number: 171
Date: 1877
Medium: etching and drypoint
Size: 99 x 186 mm
Signed: butterfly at lower left (3-final)
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: Fine Art Society, 1879?
No. of States: 8
Known impressions: 33
Catalogues: K.163; M.160; W.134
Impressions taken from this plate  (33)
Free Trade Wharf probably dates from 1877. It was probably the etching sold as 'From Limehouse', in October 1877. 1 The date '1877' is written on an impression acquired by Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904), but it is not absolutely certain that Whistler wrote the date (Graphic with a link to impression #K1630301). The butterfly signature etched on the plate confirms the date.
Comparative image

1: Whistler to M. B. Huish, 10 October 1877, GUW #12734.

Other London subjects of similar date include London Bridge [172], Battersea Morn [174], Wych Street, London [176] and Temple Bar [175].
Free Trade Wharf was published by the Fine Art Society, London, in 1879.