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The Square House, Amsterdam

Impression: Hunterian Art Gallery
Hunterian Art Gallery
(46641)
Number: 454
Date: 1889
Medium: etching and drypoint
Size: 231 x 175 mm
Signed: butterfly at upper right
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 7
Known impressions: 16
Catalogues: K.404; M.403; W.261
Impressions taken from this plate  (16)

STATE

Seven states are known before cancellation.

State 1

Etching: K4040100
Signed with a butterfly below the window at upper right.
The composition is basically complete; there are no clearly delineated figures between the posts or behind the railings above the waterline, except for the outlines of a head and shoulder above the railing at centre.
The impression reproduced above has not been located; there appear to be parallel scuffs or smears of ink in the lower right corner, but these were not etched on the plate.

State 2

Etching: K4040001
Sketchy drypoint outlines of figures are added in the doorway at right, to the right of the head and shoulders above the railing at centre, and above the railing at right.

State 3

Etching: K4040105
A woman wearing a long frock is added at the doorway on the right, to the right of the flower pot, but her head and arms are only vaguely indicated; diagonal shading is added around the woman in the doorway; some lines on the steps above the waterline in front of the central house are reduced in strength; the reflections of the buildings are enlarged and darkened; considerable shading is added to the water in the foreground, most notably long left-to-right diagonals (\\\) at left, and right-to-left diagonal and vertical lines at lower right.
A museum stamp on the verso shows through at lower right on the recto of the impression illustrated.

State 4

Etching: K4040207
The woman in the doorway to the right of the flower pot now appears to hold her arms akimbo; a figure is partly outlined above the railing to the right of the woman in the doorway; the second step above the waterline in front of the central house is more clearly delineated with new shading.

State 5

Etching: K4040107
The face and hair of the woman in the doorway to right of the flower pot are now indicated, shading is added to the bodice of her frock, and her arms are more clearly akimbo; darker shading is added around the woman in the open doorway; the figure above the railing to right of the standing woman is indistinct, but appears to also be a woman, and there are tiny patches of dark shading added to the wall and window behind her; dark shading is added to the bottom of the fourth window and to the top of the fifth window on the band of windows below the two windows at top centre; shading and more details are added to the window and boards below the butterfly signature; the open doorway at left is more heavily shaded; all the steps above the waterline in front of the central house are clearly delineated; the reflections below the houses are reduced on the left side and strengthened on the right side; shading on the water in the foreground is considerably reduced on the left, and two dark patches are added on the left as well as several others on the right; foul biting appears at the image edges and corners and is particularly heavy along the left edge.
The impression illustrated above, which was also used by Kennedy for his original first state illustration, has light brush and ink additions to the water at centre in the form of short vertical lines. 6

6: Kennedy 1910[more] (cat. no. 404 state 1/3).

Etching: K4040108
Another impression of this state, reproduced above, is even more heavily worked in pen, brush, and ink, on the area around the figures and on the water and reflections in the foreground ().

State 6

Etching: K4040106
The heavy foul biting along the left edge of the image is removed, except for a thin strip near the top.

State 7

Etching: K4040202
Shading is added to the upper panes of the second and third windows from left, and to the lower panes of the fifth window from left, on the narrow band of windows below the two windows at centre top; shading is added to the window among the boards below the butterfly signature at right; a patch of fine curving vertical and diagonal shading is added on the water at lower left.

State 7 (cancelled)

Etching: PS_K404_01
Cancelled with a diagonal line.

No impression from the cancelled plate is known. This is a digital image based on the copper plate. 7

7: A scan of the copper plate was flipped horizontally, converted to greyscale, and colour inverted, with enhanced contrast.