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Emanuel Hospital |  () | |
| Number: | 469 | |
| Date: | 1892 | |
| Medium: | etching (?) | |
| Size: | 140 x 220 mm | |
| Signed: | unknown | |
| Inscribed: | unknown | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 0 | |
| Catalogues: | K.-; M.-; T.-; W.- | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (0) | ||
Emanuel Hospital dates from 1892. Although Whistler was mostly living in Paris between 1891 and 1893, he visited London frequently and according to The Glove and Traveller, drew Emmanuel Hospital towards the end of September 1892. 1 However, the only visual records of Whistler's etching are two drawings by Nathaniel Sparks (1880-1956) done in 1931, one of which is reproduced below.
Nathaniel Sparks after Whistler, pencil, 1931, whereabouts unknown. 2
In 1892 Emanuel Hospital in Tuthill Street, London, was sold by the trustees and demolished (a Scheme to use the proceeds was approved in 1894). 3 Rose Barton lamented the loss of the building:
Nathaniel Sparks after Whistler, pencil, 1931, whereabouts unknown. 2
In 1892 Emanuel Hospital in Tuthill Street, London, was sold by the trustees and demolished (a Scheme to use the proceeds was approved in 1894). 3 Rose Barton lamented the loss of the building:
1: 28 September 1892.
2: M. Hopkinson, 'Nathaniel Sparks's Printing of Whistler's Etchings', Print Quarterly, 1999, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 340-9.
3: 'Social history: Charities for the poor', A History of the County of Middlesex: Vol. 12: Chelsea, 2004, pp. 195-201, at http://www.british-history.ac.uk (accessed 2010)
'Emanuel Hospital, that lovely old building in Westminster, was demolished in 1892. Lady Dacre's pensioners lived in this peaceful old-world spot in James Street, which lies on the way from Buckingham Gate to Victoria ... it was wonderful to come upon this little green oasis, with a splendid wrought iron gate in front, and surrounded by low red-brick buildings with tall chimneys and its chapel in the middle. It had already been doomed to destruction when I saw it first, and the old inmates had not the heart to look after the flowers, but I believe that until then it had been beautifully kept and cared for.' 4
4: Rose Barton (1865-1929), Familiar London, 1904, pp. 117-118; see Christie's, London, Victorian Pictures, 11 June 1993, lot 33.
Elizabeth Robins Pennell (1855-1936) wrote in The Star on 26 September 1892 ''it [the demolition] will not have been in vain, since it led, "they" say, to Mr. Whistler making an etching of the pretty little almshouses and their quaint quadrangle'. A note in The Globe and Traveller two days later confirms the date: 'Mr. Whistler descended upon London last week, staying till Saturday, when he returned to the house he is preparing for himself in Paris. He is also among that bunch of artists who have made a note of the pictorial possibilities of Emanuel Hospital, and will before long publish an etching of the unhappy building.' 5
So Whistler probably drew the view in the last week of September 1892, and then wrote to William Heinemann (1863-1920):
5: 28 September 1892.
'The Emanuel Hospital is not yet bitten in - but you may tell your friend that he shall have put aside for him one of the early proofs - that I will [choose] it myself - The price I can't fix yet, - but I daresay it will not be more than ten or twelve guineas - However we shall see what I make of the plate.' 6
6: Whistler to W. Heinemann, [October 1892], GUW #10789.