UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

The plate for The Young Tree was executed in pure etching. An impressionistic summary of the scene - children, a skinny tree and sunny gardens - is suggested with broken, repeated and jerky lines, and large blank areas punctuated by a few dots and dashes.

Only a few impressions are known. They are printed in very dark brown or black ink on laid paper. One, marked on the verso by Whistler with 'oo' (possibly as a mark of quality, or selection for a particular client), is a delicate impression with light, even tone on very thin Hunting horn watermarked laid paper (). Another, also in dark brown ink, is on buff laid paper with 'PRO PATRIA' watermark, a sheet apparently taken from a book (). They are trimmed to the platemark and signed on the tab with a butterfly and 'imp.'' to show that Whistler had printed them.