Speke Shore |  National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (1943.3.8476) | |
| Number: | 139 | |
| Date: | 1875 | |
| Medium: | drypoint | |
| Size: | 155 x 230 mm | |
| Signed: | no | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | 'Cancelled Plates', 1879 | |
| No. of States: | 4 | |
| Known impressions: | 21 | |
| Catalogues: | K.144; M.142; W.119 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (21) | ||
TECHNIQUE
A very freely drawn drypoint, created with broken outlines for the figure and main landscape features, plus broad irregular patches of diagonal shading for the sky and foliage.
PRINTING
There were one or two proofs of the four states of Speke Shore (e.g. , , , ) and possibly a print-run of about 20 from the cancelled plate.
The drypoint was printed in black ink with a rich burr in early impressions, on a variety of papers. The first state was printed on off-white laid paper, possibly from a book, with an Arms of Amsterdam watermark (), the third on off-white laid paper with a beehive watermark (), the fourth on soft ivory laid paper (), and the fifth on a fine, light-weight, dark ivory laid paper with very uneven edges, particularly at the bottom ().
It was published in an album of Cancelled Plates ('Cancelled Set') by The Fine Art Society, London, 1879. Many impressions from the cancelled plate still in the original album as published by the Fine Art Society in 1879 (i.e. ). There may have been a print-run of about 20 or 24. They were printed in black ink on cream or ivory laid paper, some with watermarks including 'Van Gelder' (); crown (); Strasbourg Lily/WGL () and Strasbourg Lily ().