The Letter (Maud, seated) |  Freer Gallery of Art (1898.346) | |
| Number: | 116 | |
| Date: | 1873 | |
| Medium: | drypoint | |
| Size: | 140 x 101 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at left | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 5 | |
| Known impressions: | 8 | |
| Catalogues: | K.115; M.114; W.100 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (8) | ||
PUBLICATION
It was never published.
EXHIBITIONS
It was rare and rarely seen in exhibitions. Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) lent his impression to a show at the Union League Club in New York in 1881 (
). 10
An impression was shown by the New York print dealers H. Wunderlich & Co. in 1898 () and bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), who then lent it to an exhibition organised by the Caxton Club in Chicago in 1900. 11
). 10 An impression was shown by the New York print dealers H. Wunderlich & Co. in 1898 (
) and bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), who then lent it to an exhibition organised by the Caxton Club in Chicago in 1900. 11 10: New York 1881 (cat. no. 128). See REFERENCES : EXHIBITIONS.
11: New York 1898 (cat. no. 94); Chicago 1900 (cat. no. 94).
After Whistler's death, another impression was shown at the London Memorial exhibition in 1905. 12
12: London Mem. 1905 (cat. no. 100).
SALES & COLLECTORS
In November 1877 Whistler sold 'Little Maud' to Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890) for £1.1.0. 13
This may be the only record of a sale. There is the possibility that a print sold as 'Miss Franklin' to the London print dealer Thomas M. McLean (b. ca 1832) for £6.6.0 was this, but the price seems a little high; so it could have been another portrait of Maud Franklin such as Maud, Standing [169]. 14
Early owners of impressions included Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) (); James Anderson Rose (1819-1890) and Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910) (); and Mortimer Luddington Menpes (1860-1938) (). Howard Mansfield (1849-1938) bought an impression that had been returned to Whistler in the mid-1880s for signature (). Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) bought Haden's impression through Wunderlich's in 1898, having already bought a later state in 1893 from Max Williams & Co. ().
); James Anderson Rose (1819-1890) and Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910) (); and Mortimer Luddington Menpes (1860-1938) (). Howard Mansfield (1849-1938) bought an impression that had been returned to Whistler in the mid-1880s for signature (). Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) bought Haden's impression through Wunderlich's in 1898, having already bought a later state in 1893 from Max Williams & Co. ().