Battersea: Early Morning |  Freer Gallery of Art (1903.261) | |
| Number: | 157 | |
| Date: | 1875 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 115 x 229 mm | |
| Signed: | no | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | 'Cancelled Plates', 1879 | |
| No. of States: | 3 | |
| Known impressions: | 22 | |
| Catalogues: | K.152; M.149; W.129 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (22) | ||
KEYWORD
cancelled plate, factory, river, steamboat, warehouse, wharf.
TITLE
Possible titles are as follows:
'The Troubled Thames' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 1
'Battersea early morning (1890/1892, Beatrice Whistler (1857-1896)). 2
'The Troubled Thames' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 3
'Battersea: Early Morning' (2009, Whistler Etching Project).
Similar titles and subjects can cause considerable confusion between this etching, Battersea Dawn (Cadogan Pier) [95] and Battersea Morn [174]. The title later given by Whistler's cataloguers - 'The Troubled Thames' - is emotive and not typical of Whistler's titles; it was not mentioned anywhere in Whistler's letters, nor in the studio stock-taking by Whistler and his wife in the 1890s.
This suggests that they called it something else, such as 'Battersea early morning', which was recorded during stock-taking. 'Battersea: Early Morning' has been taken as the title, since it clearly is a view of Battersea.
'The Troubled Thames' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 1
'Battersea early morning (1890/1892, Beatrice Whistler (1857-1896)). 2
'The Troubled Thames' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 3
'Battersea: Early Morning' (2009, Whistler Etching Project).
Similar titles and subjects can cause considerable confusion between this etching, Battersea Dawn (Cadogan Pier) [95] and Battersea Morn [174]. The title later given by Whistler's cataloguers - 'The Troubled Thames' - is emotive and not typical of Whistler's titles; it was not mentioned anywhere in Whistler's letters, nor in the studio stock-taking by Whistler and his wife in the 1890s.
This suggests that they called it something else, such as 'Battersea early morning', which was recorded during stock-taking. 'Battersea: Early Morning' has been taken as the title, since it clearly is a view of Battersea.
DESCRIPTION
In the left foreground is a jetty stretching into the River Thames. In mid-stream, behind it, a small steamboat steams to right over the rough water. On the far side there is a row of warehouses, with several tall chimneys, and more steamboats moored in front of the wharves.
SITE
The River Thames in London, with a view of the Battersea shore from Chelsea. The same view is seen in Battersea Morn [174]. At high tide, and at the turn of the tide, the river runs very strongly, with dangerous currents, and eddies under the bridges.