UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

Recto, above; verso, below:

The copper plate bears the oval stamp of 'HUGHES & KIMBER (LIMITED) / MANUFACTURERS / LONDON E.C.' This size of plate (or ones very close in size) with the same stamp were used for at least a dozen etchings (including Cottage Door 252, St James's Park 250, Wimpole Street 279, Theatre, Loches 418 and Hôtel de la Promenade, Loches 415). Although not all of these are dated, there is a strong probability that they were obtained from Hughes & Kimber in 1887 and 1888. Other etchings of similar size may also have been drawn on Hughes & Kimber plates and date from the same time although the copper plates are missing (e.g. The Menpes Children 300 and Butcher's Shop, Sandwich, Kent 320).

The plate was listed as 'Hotel Windows' in a studio inventory with the size given in inches as '3 7/8 x 2 5/8', which is 98 x 67mm. Windows opposite hotel, Bourges is actually slightly larger, at 100 x 67mm, but this is a reasonable margin of error - Whistler's studio stock-taking seems to have been rather sloppy, since several etchings were recorded twice, under different titles.

The plate was in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) who gave it to the University of Glasgow in 1935. It was cancelled posthumously with a diagonal line across the lower left corner.