UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

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Arched doorway with figures and a tree

Impression: Hunterian Art Gallery
Hunterian Art Gallery
(55586)
Number: 489
Date: 1901
Medium: unbitten; drawn with an etching needle through ground that has been removed
Size: 210 x 286 mm
Signed: no
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 1
Known impressions: 1
Catalogues: K.-; M.-; T.-; W.-
Impressions taken from this plate  (1)
Etching: PE04_01
The copper plate bears the maker's oval stamp on the verso: 'C. SERVANT / PLANEUR / 45, B DES GDS AUGUSTINS'. This stamp is found on a group of fourteen plates, which may date between 1888 and 1901: A building with an arched window 476, Sunflowers, Marché St Germain, Paris 437, Church Interior 427, Polichinelle, Jardin du Luxembourg 467, The Band, Luxembourg Gardens 466, Under the Statue, Luxembourg Gardens 464, Confections pour Dames 475, Antony's Print Shop, Rue de Seine 477, Mme Pelletier, Blanchisserie, Paris 481, Boulevard Poissonière, Paris 483, Café Corazza, Paris 484, Sleeping Child, Ajaccio 488, Flaming Forge 490. Several date from 1893/1894 and the last two date from 1901.
All these etchings are very rare and several were not printed in Whistler's lifetime - or at least, no impressions have survived. It is possible that the death of Whistler's wife in 1896 and his removal from Paris to London caused plates to be set aside or abandoned. It is also possible that the plates were considered unsatisfactory in some way (for instance, he thought that the Corsican plates of 1901 had been ruined, because the acid-resistant ground had started to come off).
This copper plate was not finished, nor was it cancelled. It was in Whistler's studio at his death and was bequeathed to Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958). Miss Philip gave the plate to the University of Glasgow in 1935.