The Old Swan Brewery, Chelsea |  Hunterian Art Gallery (46770) | |
| Number: | 105 | |
| Date: | 1872/1873 | |
| Medium: | etching | |
| Size: | 67 x 99 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at right | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 12 | |
| Catalogues: | K.98; M.97; W.89 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (12) | ||
PUBLICATION
It was not published.
EXHIBITIONS
It was first exhibited in the Union League Club in New York in 1881, lent by Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904), as '“The Swan”, Chelsea. Only state, 1872.' (). 16
Later it was for sale in exhibitions by H. Wunderlich & Co. in New York, in 1898 and 1903, and by Obach & Co. in London, also in 1903. It also starred in a show organised by the Caxton Club in Chicago in 1900, as '“Swan” Brewery', where both Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) and Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) lent impressions ( and ). 17
Later it was for sale in exhibitions by H. Wunderlich & Co. in New York, in 1898 and 1903, and by Obach & Co. in London, also in 1903. It also starred in a show organised by the Caxton Club in Chicago in 1900, as '“Swan” Brewery', where both Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) and Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) lent impressions ( and ). 17
16: New York 1881 (cat. no. 118).
17: Chicago 1900 (cat. nos. 84, 84a); see REFERENCES: EXHIBITIONS.
After Whistler's death it was shown in Memorial Exhibitions, including the Grolier Club in New York in 1904, and, lent by King Edward VII, at the London Memorial show in 1905. 18
18: New York 1904a (cat. no. 93); London Mem. 1905 (cat. no. 89).
SALES & COLLECTORS
Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) owned an impression by 1881 (). This is the earliest recorded owner, though Joshua Hutchinson Hutchinson (ca 1829 - d.1891) must have been among the earliest owners. At the Hutchinson sale in 1892, an impression was bought by the London print dealer Robert Dunthorne (b. ca 1851) for only £0.17.0. 19
19: Sotheby's, 3 March 1892 (lot 142).
Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) bought an impression from Wunderlich's on 9 March 1899 (). It had clearly been recently signed by Whistler. Wunderlich's then replenished their stocks, buying an impression as 'Swan Brewery' from Whistler in April 1900 for £4.4.0. 20 This may have been the impression owned by Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) () or Harry Brisbane Dick (1855-1916) ().
20: Wunderlich & Co. to Whistler, 6 April 1900, GUW #07322.
Two impressions were left by Whistler to Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) who bequeathed them to the University of Glasgow; they kept one () and sold another ().