Greenwich Pensioner |  Freer Gallery of Art (1898.259) | |
| Number: | 40 | |
| Date: | 1859 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 99 x 136 mm | |
| Signed: | 'Whistler.' at lower right | |
| Inscribed: | 'Greenwich - 1859.' at lower right | |
| Set/Publication: | 'Cancelled Plates', 1879 | |
| No. of States: | 2 | |
| Known impressions: | 34 | |
| Catalogues: | K.34; M.33; T.15; W.32 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (34) | ||
TECHNIQUE
It is in both etching and drypoint. Bold jagged and zig-zag lines indicate the landscape and the man's clothes; lighter, delicate cross-hatching was added on the face and some details of the clothes. The horizontal shading added in the second state provided a slightly muted boundary to the landscape, as did the foul biting at the corners, which could easily have been removed.
PRINTING HISTORY
A proof of the first state was printed in black ink on heavy-weight off-white wove paper (
).
).Most impressions are of the second state. It was usually printed in black ink, the first state Later impressions are on a variety of papers including, for instance, off-white wove paper (); ivory () and cream (, ) Japanese laid paper; ivory laid western watermarked paper () and thick, soft, ivory laid paper ().
); ivory () and cream (, ) Japanese laid paper; ivory laid western watermarked paper () and thick, soft, ivory laid paper (). There may have been a print-run of about twenty for the 'Cancelled Set' (i.e. , ). Impressions are in black ink, one on heavy-weight off-white wove paper (), and most on laid paper, one being on a 'modern' (post-1800) laid paper with the partial watermark of a Strasbourg Lily in a shield over 'WGL' (), another on ivory laid (), and one on cream laid paper with a partial Van Gelder watermark ().
, ). Impressions are in black ink, one on heavy-weight off-white wove paper (), and most on laid paper, one being on a 'modern' (post-1800) laid paper with the partial watermark of a Strasbourg Lily in a shield over 'WGL' (), another on ivory laid (), and one on cream laid paper with a partial Van Gelder watermark ().