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Amsterdam, from the Tolhuis

Impression: Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art
(1898.327)
Number: 99
Date: 1863
Medium: etching and drypoint
Size: 134 x 211 mm
Signed: 'Whistler' at lower right (1-final); butterfly at lower right (7-final)
Inscribed: '1863. / à Amsterdam - Tolhuis. - -' at lower right
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 8
Known impressions: 26
Catalogues: K.91; M.91; T.82; W.82
Impressions taken from this plate  (26)

STATE

Eight states are known before cancellation.

State 1

Etching: K0910106
Signed 'Whistler - 1863.' and inscribed 'à Amsterdam - Tolhuis. - -' at lower right.
The composition is complete; the clouds are strongly etched and fill the sky; the rope hanging from the rigging at upper left has two outlines.

State 2

Etching: K0910107
The rope at upper left has been partly removed; there is a dark spot of corrosion or foul biting in the water just under the quayside at left.
The impression reproduced has several round stains or fox marks.

State 3

Etching: K0910112
The rope at upper left has been redrawn in drypoint as one line; shading on the cloud in the centre (above and to left of the dark sail) has been partly burnished out.
In later impressions of this state the spot of foul biting or corrosion at left has been removed, as in the impression reproduced below.
Etching: K0910110

State 4

Etching: K0910105
The rope at upper left has been removed.

State 5

Etching: K0910201
The upper parts of the masts in the foreground and nearly all of the lines in the sky are partly burnished out.

State 6

Etching: K0910302
The upper parts of the taller masts have been redrawn; clouds and rays of light are added lightly in drypoint.

State 7

Etching: K0910403
Signed with a butterfly, to left of the signature, at lower right.

State 8

Etching: K0910402
The date has been partly erased.
Lines in the sky are partly erased or have worn down; the rays of light are practically invisible.

State 8 (cancelled)

Etching: PS_K091_01
Cancelled with a diagonal line.

No impression from the cancelled plate is known. This is a digital image based on the copper plate. 13

13: A scan of the copper plate was flipped horizontally, converted to greyscale, and colour inverted, with enhanced contrast.