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J. Becquet, Sculptor

Impression: Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art
(1898.284)
Number: 62
Date: 1859
Medium: etching and drypoint
Size: 257 x 194 mm
Signed: no
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: 'Thames Set', 1871
No. of States: 6
Known impressions: 96
Catalogues: K.52; M.52; T.54; W.48
Impressions taken from this plate  (96)

STATE

Six states are known before cancellation.

State 1

Impression: K0520105
There is no signature or inscription.
The head and figure are in etching; this state was printed with a frisket and shows the figure only from head to knee.

State 2

Impression: K0520201
The shoulders are broadened by drypoint lines, which suggest a cloak; light horizontal lines are added in the right background below the shoulder; roughly vertical lines are added on each side of the figure; there is a ragged area of foul biting along the lower edge.
Traces of an earlier composition by another hand, showing soldiers in an encampment, are visible towards the lower and right edges in many impressions.

State 3

Impression: K0520306
Strong vertical and slanting lines in drypoint are added in the background, each side of the figure, and short diagonal lines below his right arm; slightly curving vertical lines are added at lower left and right and in the middle, over his legs; the 'cello has been partly burnished out.

State 4

Impression: K0520203
Slanting drypoint lines are added under his arm and shoulder to left of the 'cello, and on the neck of the 'cello; lines are added on his cravat.

State 5

Impression: K0520310
The lower edge of the plate has been cleaned, removing the foul biting.
In later impressions, many of the lines at right and left have worn down, the drypoint burr is irregular, and there are scratch and corrosion marks on the plate.
Published in the 'Thames Set' in this state.

State 6

Impression: K0520402
A small cross-shaped mark at upper left has been removed; the drypoint lines are worn but heavier inking sometimes conceals the deterioration of the lines, as in the impression reproduced.
Published with the second edition of the 'Thames Set' in this state.

State 6 (cancelled)

Impression: K0520501
Cancelled with a grid of horizontal and vertical lines.