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Hole in the Hill, Amboise

Impression:

()
Number: 433
Date: 1888
Medium: etching (?)
Size: unknown mm
Signed: unknown
Inscribed: unknown
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 1
Known impressions: 0
Catalogues: K.-; M.-; T.-; W.-
Impressions taken from this plate  (0)

KEYWORD

landscape, town

TITLE

Whistler's title was recorded in a studio inventory in 1888 :

Hole in the Hill, Amboise (1888, Whistler). 3

The title may refer to a cave or 'troglodyte' house built into the limestone hills in and around Amboise.

3: List, [August 1887/1888], GUW #13233.

DESCRIPTION

Unknown.

SITE

Amboise is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department of central France. It lies on the banks of the Loire, 14 miles east of Tours. Whistler etched Château d'Amboise [431] and The Clock Tower - Amboise [429] there. There are caves, both prehistoric dwellings and caves adapted as wine cellars, in the limestone cliffs of the area. On one of the main streets in Amboise there are small houses actually built into the cliff. 4

4: See www.peacham.com / france / troglodytes.htm (accessed 2009.01).

DISCUSSION

It is not known why this etching has disappeared. It may be that, as a reminder of their honeymoon, it was destroyed after the death of Beatrice Whistler (1857-1896).