London Bridge |  Freer Gallery of Art (1898.358) | |
| Number: | 172 | |
| Date: | 1877 | |
| Medium: | drypoint | |
| Size: | 159 x 235 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at lower right (3-final) | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | 'Cancelled Plates', 1879 | |
| No. of States: | 6 | |
| Known impressions: | 24 | |
| Catalogues: | K.153; M.150; W.123 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (24) | ||
STATE
Six states are known before cancellation.
State 1
There is no signature or inscription.
The composition is complete.
The drypoint burr at upper right either wore down or was rubbed down, as in the only other impression recorded, which is reproduced below but has not been located. 7
7: Kennedy 1910 (cat. no. 153 I).
State 2
The men in the rowboat, and the boat itself, are partly shaded with short diagonal lines; diagonal lines shade the sides of the boat and barge at right and the barges beyond the bridge; the arch is shaded by long curving lines, except at right; lines are added in the sky, particularly behind the distant shipping; the warehouses are defined and shaded.
State 3
Signed with a butterfly at lower right.
The interior of the barge at far right is defined; a few more vertical lines indicate stones above the centre of the arch; the top of the bridge is completed at right.
State 4
New close shading augments the shadows underneath the arch; reflections are added under the arch at far left; the roof at upper right and the load on the bridge at right are shaded, another partial row of stones is indicated above the arch.
State 5
Shading on the side of the near rowboat extends its whole length; the bow of the small boat at right is shaded with slanting lines; the reflections of the bridge at far left are extended.
State 6
New short slanting lines are added to the shading under the arch; the shading on the near rowboat reaches the gunwale.
In the impression reproduced there are flecks of foul biting or a spatter of ink at upper left.
State 6 (cancelled)
Cancelled with light diagonal lines. The plate shows signs of damage, including scratches at upper left.