UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

building, chateau, landscape, townscape.

Only one title is known, with variant spelling, as follows:

'View from Chateaux Walls, Loche' [sic] (1888, Beatrice Whistler (1857-1896)). 1
'View from the chateau walls, Loches' (2011, Whistler Etchings Project).

The preferred title is 'View from the chateau walls, Loches', with Beatrice Whistler's spelling corrected.

A view taken from a high viewpoint, looking down over houses and gardens to a broad river, and on the far side, meadows, trees, and at upper right, a church tower .

The wrapping sheet containing the copper plate bears a note in Beatrice Whistler's hand that reads 'View from Chateaux Walls Loche'. The view was taken from the same spot on the walls of Loches as Whistler's larger etching, From Agnes Sorel's Walk, Loches 419, and includes buildings towards the left of Whistler's etching.

Whistler taught his wife to etch during their honeymoon, and this plate was drawn and printed in collaboration. This is the only one known to have been etched by Beatrice and James Whistler in collaboration. It is signed with a combination of Whistler's butterfly and Beatrice's monogram, a lucky trefoil developed from her maiden name ('BP' for Beatrice Philip). The envelope is wrapped in paper that bears a note in Beatrice Whistler's hand reading 'View from Chateaux Walls Loche. JMW - Rix Birnie'. 'JMW' was Whistler, and 'Rix Birnie' was Beatrice's nom de plume, based on a combination of her nicknames ('Trix', 'Beatrix' or 'Trixie') and the name of her father, John Birnie Philip (1824-1875). 2

Several other etchings by Beatrice Whistler are in the collection given by her younger sister Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) to the University of Glasgow. One, also done on the honeymoon in 1888, is La Bouchère de Tours, which is extremely close to Whistler's work in style and technique. 3