The Velvet Dress (Mrs Leyland) |  Hunterian Art Gallery (46774) | |
| Number: | 120 | |
| Date: | 1873/1874 | |
| Medium: | drypoint | |
| Size: | 232 x 157 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at left | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 7 | |
| Known impressions: | 17 | |
| Catalogues: | K.105; M.105; T.76; W.91 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (17) | ||
STATE
Seven states are known.
State 1
Signed with a butterfly at left, just below centre.
The shading in the background consists of vertical and diagonal lines about the head, and vertical lines in the upper half of the plate, each side of the figure.
State 2
The face has been reworked, particularly around the chin and eyes; the space over the head, as far as the cap, is filled with perpendicular lines; vertical lines are added in the background on both sides of the figure, two of those at the left extending to the butterfly and below it.
State 3
The outline of the face is slightly altered; five lines on the left extend below the butterfly; shading is reinforced above her head; more vertical lines are added in the background at left and upper right.
State 4
Perpendicular lines are added at upper right and behind her head.
State 5
Irregular horizontal lines indicate the base of the background curtain, below the butterfly; four short diagonal lines run from left to right (\\\) just over them, still under the butterfly; fine vertical lines are added in the background at upper right, and very fine vertical shading is added at right, behind and touching her waist.
State 6
Further light vertical lines are added in the background at upper right.
The drypoint is fading and some impressions are rather thin and pale.
State 7
The dress and figure are completely reworked; the woman wears a large hat with a veil over her face, a dark dress with fitted bodice and a ruff at the neck, fitted sleeves with wider cuffs, a full skirt gathered back behind her waist and falling in folds to a short train; the background is heavily reinforced with both vertical and diagonal shading.