Windows opposite Hotel, Bourges |  National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (1943.3.8638) | |
| Number: | 397 | |
| Date: | 1888 | |
| Medium: | etching | |
| Size: | 100 x 67 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at lower right | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 2 | |
| Catalogues: | K.401; M.400 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (2) | ||
Windows opposite hotel, Bourges dates from 1888. On Whistler's honeymoon in 1888 he made four etchings that have Bourges as part of the title: this, Hôtel Lallement, Bourges [396], Windows, Bourges [398], and Notre-Dame, Bourges [402]. The honeymoon trip came in two stages, broken by a brief visit to London early in September.
About 22 September 1888 the artist wrote from Tours to his sister-in-law Helen Whistler:
'here we are - "in the Garden of France" - ... sitting down on benches or borrowing chairs that we may, at our ease, look at the lovely old doorways - and marvelous carvings / ... Mean while we are thinking of Bourges - have you ever been there? - I fancy it must be amazing -'. 1
1: GUW #06713.
It is not clear how long they actually stayed in Bourges but a few days later they were back in Tours, having 'been to Bourges'. 2
2: Whistler to J. R. Rodd, [25/30 September 1888?], GUW #05348.