Street at Saverne |  National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (1943.3.8406) | |
| Number: | 14 | |
| Date: | 1858 | |
| Medium: | etching and open bite or sandpaper ground | |
| Size: | 209 x 159 mm | |
| Signed: | 'Whistler' at lower left | |
| Inscribed: | 'Imp. Delatre. Rue St. Jacques' at lower right (2-3); erased (4) | |
| Set/Publication: | 'French Set', 1858 | |
| No. of States: | 4 | |
| Known impressions: | 81 | |
| Catalogues: | K.19; M.19; T.7; W.11 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (81) | ||
STATE
Four states are known before cancellation.
State 1
Signed 'Whistler.' at lower left among the lines shading the street.
The sky is shaded with an open network of horizontal and diagonal lines.
Kennedy described a first state before Whistler's signature in the plate, and referenced an impression without signature in the collection of Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910). 8 He did not reproduce the etching in his catalogue, and no such impression has been located. The first state proof described and illustrated above belonged to Haden and is probably the impression Kennedy saw and incorrectly recorded as unsigned.
8: Kennedy 1910 (cat. no. 19).
The other known impression of the Glasgow catalogue's first state (
), reproduced below, is printed with considerable plate tone, selectively wiped, creating a nocturnal effect quite different from the proof pictured above.
), reproduced below, is printed with considerable plate tone, selectively wiped, creating a nocturnal effect quite different from the proof pictured above.
State 2
Inscribed 'Imp. Delatre. Rue St. Jacques' (the 't' in 'St' raised) at lower left.
The sky is reworked with close horizontal lines that extend over the gate or barrier at the end of the street; the new work obscures the top of the gate as well as the cable or rope hanging across the street; light emitted by the lantern is more sharply defined; new horizontals are added to the street in the foreground and new vertical and zigzag lines are added to the wall at lower right.
Inscribed with the printer's address and published in the 'French Set' in the following (third) state.
State 3
The plate signature remains but is difficult to see on most impressions.
Tonal shading is added to the sky through abrasion or light application of acid to the plate; the gate or barrier at the end of the street is redefined and closely shaded; short, fine vertical lines are added to the top of the lantern.
Published in the 'French Set' in this state.
State 4
Delâtre's name and address are removed.
Impressions of this state were printed after publication of the 'French Set', and Kennedy characterised them as 'recent' in 1910. 9
9: Kennedy 1910 (cat. no. 19).
State 4 (cancelled)
The plate is cancelled by two crossed diagonal lines and four horizontals.