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) | ||
The copper plate is stamped H. GODARD / RUE DE LA HUCHETTE 27 / PARIS' in an octagonal cartouche. It is the only plate by Whistler on a Godard copper plate.
François Joseph Léo Drouyn (1816-1896), a friend of the Barbizon etcher Charles Jacque (1813-1894), was buying 'les cuivre vierges, le vernis et l'acide, les bâtons de cire ou le papier glace achetés 27 rue de la Huchette, chez Godard ou chez la Vve Coppenet' at this same period in the late 1850s. For example Le Réole, drawn in 1859 and published in La Guienne militaire in 1861, is on a Godard plate. 9
François Joseph Léo Drouyn (1816-1896), a friend of the Barbizon etcher Charles Jacque (1813-1894), was buying 'les cuivre vierges, le vernis et l'acide, les bâtons de cire ou le papier glace achetés 27 rue de la Huchette, chez Godard ou chez la Vve Coppenet' at this same period in the late 1850s. For example Le Réole, drawn in 1859 and published in La Guienne militaire in 1861, is on a Godard plate. 9
9: Bernard Larrieu with M. Wideman, Léo Drouyn aquafortiste. À la découverte d'un trésor de plaques en cuivre, Bordeaux 2003 (cat. no. 25) and p. 17; website at http://www.memoiresdesgraves.fr (accessed 2012).
The copper plates for La Mère Gérard [24] and J. Becquet, Sculptor [62] also came from the rue de la Huchette in the Latin Quarter. However, they are stamped with the name of Juéry in an octagonal cartouche. A plate of studies for La Tricoteuse
by Jean Baptiste Millet (1831-1906), also dating from the 1850s, bears on the verso the stamp of 'M JUÉRY/27, RUE DE LA/ HUCHETTE/ PARIS, who may have been the publisher and/or maker of the copper plate. 10
La Mère Gérard and En Plein Soleil date from 1858, J. Becquet, Sculptor from 1859. Both En Plein Soleil and J. Becquet, Sculptor show distinct traces of earlier compositions on the plate, suggesting that Whistler was buying used plates to save money.
En Plein Soleil was published with the 'French Set' by Auguste Delâtre (1822-1907) in 1858. The plate was steel-faced but not cancelled. It was bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) with other plates from the 'French Set' and is now in the Freer Gallery of Art. 11
La Mère Gérard and En Plein Soleil date from 1858, J. Becquet, Sculptor from 1859. Both En Plein Soleil and J. Becquet, Sculptor show distinct traces of earlier compositions on the plate, suggesting that Whistler was buying used plates to save money.
En Plein Soleil was published with the 'French Set' by Auguste Delâtre (1822-1907) in 1858. The plate was steel-faced but not cancelled. It was bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) with other plates from the 'French Set' and is now in the Freer Gallery of Art. 11
10: British Museum 1881,1112.147, on http://www.britishmuseum.org (accessed 2012).
11: Acc. No. 1906.204.