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Doorway and Vine

Impression: Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art
(1887.2)
Number: 191
Date: 1879/1880
Medium: etching and drypoint
Size: 233 x 170 mm
Signed: butterfly at lower right
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: 'Second Venice Set', 1886
No. of States: 18
Known impressions: 45
Catalogues: K.196; M.193; W.161
Impressions taken from this plate  (45)

STATE

Eighteen states are known before cancellation, which occurred in two stages.

State 1

Etching: K1960101
Signed with a butterfly at lower right, at the right of the passageway.
The composition is mostly complete; the head and shoulder of one figure and another more complete figure in outline are sketched in front of the left side of the passageway; there is a large patch of foul biting at the upper right corner and a smaller patch to the left of it, near the top edge of the image.

State 2

Etching: K1960201
The large patch of foul biting at the upper right corner is removed; drypoint shading is added just inside the passageway, at the upper and lower left and across the top, as well as to the dark shadows at the back of the passageway; a row of tiny vertical lines is added in the distant view through the passageway, with three vaguely indicated figures to the right of it.
Kennedy's illustration of the second state, which also is used here, was cropped at the top, so only the bottom of the second patch of foul biting is visible. 6

6: Kennedy 1910[more] (cat. no. 196 II).

State 3

Etching: K1960302
The two figures in outline, in front of the left side of the passageway, are removed or almost completely worn away; very fine left to right diagonals (\\\) are added above the figure at left in the window above the passageway.
The drypoint shading on the passageway as well as the horizontal line of shading and vague figures in the distance are quite worn on some impressions of this state.
Published in this and later states by Messrs Dowdeswell and Thibaudeau with the Twenty-six Etchings (the 'Second Venice Set') in 1886.

State 4

Etching: K1960402
There is pale shading on the shoulder of the woman on the right in the window above the passageway, and she now holds a fan, which is drawn in drypoint; new etched shading is added just within the opening of the passageway, at the top; the figures in the distance have almost completely worn away.

State 5

Etching: K1960401
Facial features are added to the woman on the right in the window, and her head is more uniformly oval; dark vertical and diagonal shading is added behind both figures in the window; shading is added to the ceiling, back and sides of the passageway.

State 6

Etching: K1960403
The panes of the window at the back of the passageway are slightly larger and more regular; the figure standing at the back of the passageway now wears a hat and is bending slightly to the left; shading in the distance is indistinct; shading behind the figures in the window is reduced, and the facial features of the woman on the right have worn away.

State 7

Etching: K1960606
The figure standing at the back of the passageway has been redrawn and now faces left with arms extended in front and behind; the distant view now includes a window with shutters and two figures; shading is added above the heads of the two figures in the window above the passageway.

State 8

Etching: K1960509
The figures in the window are re-etched, and both have facial features, although those on the left are rudimentary; shading behind the figures in the window is darkened; horizontal shading is added to the ceiling of the passageway, just within the opening, reducing the width of the white unshaded strip; more shading is added to the walls and ceiling of the passageway; the back and legs of the figure standing at the back of the passageway are completed.

State 9

Etching: K1960502
More close shading is added to the walls and ceiling of the passageway, creating more uniform dark shadows and more clearly delineating horizontal beams on the ceiling.

State 10

Etching: K1960z11
Left to right diagonal shading (\\\) is added to the upper part of the window, above the figure on the left.

State 11

Etching: K1960602
The woman on the left in the window now has facial features and dark hair, with dark shading above her; the facial features have been removed from the left head, a band of dark shading remains at the top of that head, and there is a dark dot in the region of the chin; most shading in the window is worn or reduced; the shuttered window in the distance, on the far side of the canal, now has six panes rather than four.

State 12

Etching: K1960603
Very small changes are made to the figure at right in the window, and the head shape now appears to be defined by a greyish oval of pale shading or scraping marks; the shading within the passageway is less uniform, and there is a distinct patch of darker shading near the upper right side of the back entrance.

State 13

Etching: K1960702
The figures in the window are changed again: the one on the left now has just a suggestion of a face, and the neck and shoulders of the figure on the right are redrawn, with the head in three-quarter view, facing toward the left; patches of fine shading are added above the figures; the pose of the figure standing at the back of the passageway is changed, with one arm extended toward the wall; the two figures in the distance, on the far side of the canal, are changed, as is the shape of the shuttered window above them, which no longer has six distinct panes; dark shading is added to the back of the passageway, particularly at left and around the window, where the panes are now slightly smaller; left to right diagonal lines (\\\) are added to the shading on the pavement at the far left end of the passageway and extend to the base of the wall; horizontal lines are added to the pavement on the right, and some of the regular diagonals are removed from the pavement at the centre.
7

7: The figures and shading within the window less distinct on the impression of this state illustrated by Kennedy (his 7th state) than on other impressions, suggesting that either his photograph was poor or that particular impression was worn. Kennedy 1910[more] (cat. no. 196 state 7/10) .

State 14

Etching: K1960802
Almost all of the figures and much of the shading in the window has been removed.
The impression illustrated has a stain at the upper right corner and some discolouration along the right sheet edge. The shading within the passageway is lightly inked, but is not changed from the previous state.

State 15

Etching: K1960801
The remnants of figures and shading in the window are further removed; shading on the pavement in the passageway is reduced or worn at the centre and at the far end.
The impression illustrated here has not been located, but judging from Kennedy's illustration it was stained at the upper right corner and along the right sheet edge. 8

8: Kennedy 1910[more] (cat. no. 196 state 8/10).

State 16

Etching: K1960902
The two figures in the window are completely redrawn: the one on the left is positioned more toward the centre of the window; the woman on the left now faces left, her right eye is less distinct than her left, she wears a headscarf and has fine drypoint shading on her bodice; right to left diagonal lines (///) strengthen the shading on the passageway pavement at the centre and far end; there are a number of small dark patches of fine shading on the side and back walls of the passageway.

State 17

Etching: K1960z02
There is fine shading on the bodice of the figure on the right in the window; the right eye of the woman on the left is more distinct, and both her eyes are slightly more prominent.

State 18

Not reproduced.
Fine drypoint lines darken the shading in the upper portion of the window above the passageway.
This state is known only from impressions from the cancelled plate. It was Kennedy's tenth and final state but was not reproduced. 9

9: Kennedy 1910[more] (cat. no. 196 state 10/10).

State 18 (cancelled a)

Etching: K1961102
Cancelled with five diagonal lines.

State 18 (cancelled b)

Etching: K1961103
Further cancelled with many crossed diagonal lines.