UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

children, courtyard, façade, flowers, shop, shop girls, window, wine, woman standing.

Variations on the title are as follows:


'FILS COUVREUR' (1888, Whistler). 1
'The Wine Shop. Amboise (French Plates)' (1887/1888, Whistler). 2
'Wine Shop' (1890/1891, Whistler). 3
'The Wine Shop' (1904, Grolier Club). 4
'The Wine-Shop' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 5


'The Wine Shop, Amboise' is the fullest title used by Whistler, and therefore preferred to later variations.

A view of a shop front, drawn parallel to the edges of the copper plate. The building was built of stone. At the top are two windows, with pots of flowers on the sills. Between the windows a shrub is growing out of the wall. Below, on the left, is a shop-front with the sign: 'FILS COUVREUR.' In front of the shop a woman stands with a child in her arms, facing away and to right. At her left is a child wearing a sunbonnet, and at her right are three children, barely outlined. To right, steps lead to a passageway bearing the number '45', which leads to a courtyard. At the far end of the courtyard, at left, is a large window, and to right an open doorway in which a woman is standing.

Amboise is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department of central France. It lies on the banks of the Loire, 14 miles east of Tours. Other etchings done there include Château d'Amboise 431 and The Clock Tower - Amboise 429.

Whistler often sat in cafés and restaurants to work in comfort, and etched a variety of café and drinking subjects including The Dutchman Holding A Glass 004, The Wine Glass 038, Longshore men 052, Soupe à trois sous 064, Ratcliffe Highway 065, Café Luxembourg 436, Café Corazza, Paris 484 and Marchande de Vin, Ajaccio 485.