Sketching |  Freer Gallery of Art (1898.316) | |
| Number: | 83 | |
| Date: | 1861 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 120 x 166 mm | |
| Signed: | 'Whistler - ' at lower right (1-3); partly removed (4-final) | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | Junior Etching Club, 1862 | |
| No. of States: | 6 | |
| Known impressions: | 35 | |
| Catalogues: | K.86; M.87; T.86; W.69 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (35) | ||
STATE
Six states are known.
State 1
Signed 'Whistler -' at lower right.
The composition is complete.
State 2
The whole composition is strengthened in drypoint, including drypoint on the man's coat-collar, the plants in the foreground, the reflections, and the trees, which are made taller.
State 3
Further clouds are added in drypoint at upper right.
State 4
'London, Published December 1st, 1861, by Day & Son, Lith. to the Queen,' is engraved along the bottom of the plate, and 'J. Whistler' to right of Whistler's signature, overlapping with the last 'r'; the bottom of the composition and bottom of the 'W' in 'Whistler' are partly concealed.
State 5
In addition to the earlier engraved inscription, 'Pl. 45' is engraved in the right upper corner.
Published under the title: 'A River Scene' in 1862 in 'Passages from Modern English Poets, illustrated by the Junior Etching Club' (London: Day & Son).
State 6
Most of the inscription, and part of the artist's stool, have been burnished out, leaving only 'J. Whistler. // PL.45'.