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Landscape with Fisherman |  Hunterian Art Gallery (50309) | |
| Number: | 85 | |
| Date: | 1861 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 152 x 228 mm | |
| Signed: | 'Whistler' at lower right | |
| Inscribed: | '1861.' at lower right | |
| Set/Publication: | 'Cancelled Plates', 1879 | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 18 | |
| Catalogues: | K.83; M.84 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (18) | ||
KEYWORD
boat, cancelled plate, fisherman, horse, landscape, man standing, river, tree.
TITLE
There is no record of Whistler's original title. The only variations in the title are as follows:
'Fishing' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 1
'Landscape with a Fisherman' (1910, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 2
'Landscape with a Fisherman' is a clear and descriptive title, and is generally accepted.
'Fishing' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 1
'Landscape with a Fisherman' (1910, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 2
'Landscape with a Fisherman' is a clear and descriptive title, and is generally accepted.
1: Mansfield 1909 (cat. no. 84).
2: Kennedy 1910 (cat. no. 83).
DESCRIPTION
To right a man is standing on a grassy river bank, with a fishing rod. A large willow tree is to his right. A stake sticks out of the water in the foreground. At the extreme left men and a horse are towing a boat. To right, near the far bank, is a small boat with a single mast. In the distance, beyond a level meadow, is a row of trees. There are clouds in the sky.
SITTER
Not identified, though it could be one of Whistler's friends such as Edwin Edwards (1823-1879) or Matthew White Ridley (1837-1888).
SITE
This may have been at Sunbury-on-Thames, where Whistler visited Edwin Edwards (1823-1879). A similar fishing scene appears in Sketching, No. 2
[84].
In 1873 Henry Taunt wrote:
'Sunbury Weir, with the stream running from it, is a fine reach for fly
fishing, as well as for pike, barbel, perch, and with a few trout. The
backwater, called Cane Edge, running behind the islands below the lock,
is good for dace, while lower down, on the Middlesex side, are chubb
and jack.' 3
3: Henry W. Taunt's Map and Guide to the river Thames from Oxford to London, London, 1873, p. 42, reprinted by Susan Reid, ed., The Thames of Henry Taunt, Gloucester, 1989, p. 189.