Prints and Multiples

The Draped Figure, Seated Lithograph on fine japanese paper, 1893 Signed in pencil with the butterfly (see photo) Signed in the stone with the butterfly on the sofa (see photo) Numbe...

Gants de Suede (Suede Gloves) Lithograph, 1890 Signed in the stone with the butterfly signature (see photo) Published in: The Studio 3, No. 13 (16 April 1894) Printed by Way in an edition of 3000 impressions, with the blind stamp of The Studio, London lower left Stone polished out in 1904 Condition: Excellent Image size: 8 1/2 x 4 inches Sheet size: 11 5/8 x 8 1/4 inches Reference: Spink/Tadeschi 35, published state "Gants de Suede is a portrait of Whistler’s sister-in-law, Ethel Birnie Philip. Whistler was apparently pleased with this lithograph, for after a small number of impressions were printed he agreed that it could be published by The Studio, an art magazine that had recently been launched; it appeared as part of a special issue." Harris Schrank

Etching printed in dark brownish black ink on cream laid paper, 6 x 8 7/8 inches (152 x 226 mm); full margins. Extremely minor and unobtrusive band of toning along the top sheet edg...

Medium: original lithograph. Catalogue reference: Way 88. Printed in 1897 and published in London for The Studio. Sheet size: 11 x 7 3/4 inches (282 x 197 mm). This impression on cre...

Signed and dated on plate. Eighth state of 8 (final state), after different works with drypoint, with margins.  Published in 1878/79 on Japan paper in "The Portfolio". Matting includ...

Whistler, James A. M. VITRE: THE CANAL, BRITTANY. Levy 65, Spink 63. Lithograph, 1893. One of 32 lifetime impressions, printed by Way, with Whistler's butterfly signature in pencil...

The Draped Figure, Seated Lithograph on fine japanese paper, 1893 Signed in pencil with the butterfly (see photo) Signed in the stone with the butterfly on the sofa (see photo) Numbered: "No. 20" in pencil Printed by Thomas Way, London A beautiful impression with tonal variations in the stump work (shading) As published in: L'Estampe Originale, Paris, 1893, Album IV Edition: 107 impressions, this No. 20 There were an additonal 24 impressions printed by Way for Whistler and 20 impressions printed for the Fine Art Society, London Lacking the huge support sheet and embossed series stamp by Charpentier With the letterpress lower left: "T. Way. Imp London" The stone erased in 1904 The majority of the lifetime impressions are in public collections Condition: Excellent condition Hinges from original issuance of L'Estampe Originale verso at top as described in Spink Three hinges residue along right edge of the sheet from a later matting of the print Image size: 8 1/4 x 6 3/8 inches Sheet size: 11 3/8 x 9 1/16 inches Reference: Spink/Tadeschi 72, published edition Levy 74 Way 46 A superb Neoclassical lithograph...

20 in x 16 in - image size Etching (Reproduction). Measures 20 x 16 inches and is framed. The piece is in Very Good Condition.

20 in x 16 in - image size Etching (Reproduction). Measures 20 x 16 inches and is framed. The piece is in Very Good Condition.

J. Becquet, Sculptor Etching & drypoint, 1859 Unsigned as issued From: The Thames Set Printed on this Japanese tissue Rich impression Condition: Excellent Plate/Image size: 9 7/8 x 7...

"Fulham A.K.A. Chelsea" is an original etching by James Abbott MacNeill Whistler. The artist signed the piece in the plate with his butterfly monogram in the lower right. IT was publ...

Signed and dated on plate. An early state on the 5 issued, with very fresh impression and marked contrasts, Includes passepartout (cm. 53x37). The American artist James Abbott McNei...

A superb impression of Spink’s only state From the edition of approximately 200 commissioned by Ambroise Vollard, and printed by Auguste Clot, Paris Catalog: Spink 174; Levy 77 Collections in which impressions from this edition can be found: Chicago Art Institute (3 impressions); Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow (1 impression); National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1 impression); Cleveland Museum of Art (1 impression); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1 impression); The Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts, San Francisco (1 impression). “Mother and Daughter...

A very good impression of this extremely scarce drypoint. MacDonald's eleventh state "b" (of 11b), restored after cancellation.

James Whistler (1834-1903), Old Putney Bridge, 1879, etching and drypoint, signed in pencil with a large, elaborate shaded butterfly, lower right and inscribed imp (also signed with the butterfly in the plate), printed in dark-brown/black ink on laid paper, watermark ProPatria, an impression in Glasgow’s seventh (final) state, published by The Fine Art Society, probably printed in 1881, 8x 11 3/4 inches, sheet 12 1/8 x 16 1/8 inches. Reference: Kennedy 178; Glasgow 185. Provenance: Kraushaar Gallery, New York A fine impression, with wide margins. The Fine Art Societys relationship with Whistler began with the new etchings of the Thames he made in 1879, following a visit from Ernest Brown who had joined the staff of the gallery. The plate is on a large scale and shows the change in the artists approach to the Thames since the etchings he had made in Wapping and the docks in the summer of 1859. The central motif is the old bridge, by this stage somewhat dilapidated. It was shortly to be demolished and replaced by the new bridge of Cornish granite...

Etching and drypoint in black ink on fine ivory laid Japan paper. Second state of two. Signed and dated in plate lower right "Whistler. 1859". Very good condition. Ref. Kennedy 51 i...

A brilliant, richly-inked impression of this etching and drypoint printed in dark brownish black on antique cream laid paper with very strong contrasts....

The Forge Drypoint, 1861 Signed in the plate lower right (see photo) Published as part of the Thames Set, 1871 Printed between 1894 and 1896 when the plate was canceled. This impress...

Barges, Dordrecht Etching, c. 1886 Signed in the plate with the butterfly Edition: One of 10 known impressions of this image. VERY RARE Provenance: Frederick Keppel & Co. with their ...

James Whistler, The Little Putney, 1879, etching and drypoint, signed with the large butterfly lower right (also with the butterfly in the plate). Glasgow 187, third state (of 3). 12...

A superb, richly-inked impression of this etching and drypoint, printed in dark brownish black on antique cream laid paper. Second state (of 3). Edition of approximately 30. Signed w...

James Abbott McNeill Whistler, 'En Plein Soleil' from the French Set (Douze eau-fortes d'apres Nature), etching, 1858, edition 61, 4th state of 4, Kenn...

Whistler, James A. M. THE LITTLE COURT CLOTH FAIR. Spink 22. Lithograph, 1887. A lifetime impression, one of 12 printed by Way and signed in pencil with the Butterfly. Printed on Ivory colored wove paper without watermark. The sheet 11 9/16 x 6 inches. In very good condition with slight discoloration from the mat in the areas outside the mat window. Provenance: Collection of Otto Gerstenberg (see below) with his collectors stamp, Lugt 2785, the Secretary Montag's "M" and the inventory numbers 61248 KO5182 all on the verso; Horizon Gallery, Rockport, MA, with its label and annotations on the frame backing. Framed. Very rare. The following are translations from the entry on Gerstenberg in Lugt: Lugt 1921: O. GERSTENBERG (born 1848), director of the Insurance Company "Victoria", lives in Berlin. Old and modern prints. Otto Gerstenberg, born in Pyritz, studied mathematics and philosophy at the University of Berlin. After having been employed at the Prussian Statistical Office, in 1873 he entered the insurance company "Victoria" in Berlin as a mathematician-calculator, and became its director in 1888. He developed it in the following years and brought it up. to its present importance. Around 1900 he began to collect prints of which he now has a very large cabinet; as elders especially Schongauer, Dürer and Rembrandt, then Lucas de Leyde, Hirschvogel, van Dijck, Ostade and the French portrait painters. As modern it is necessary to point out, among the Germans »Greiner, Klinger, Leibl, Liebermann, Menzel, Stauffer-Bern; among the French, Corot, Daumier, Degas, Forain, Lepère, Manet, Meryon, Toulouse-Lautrec; among the English, Bone, Dodd, Goff, Haden, Strang; then an important work by Whistler and Goya and leaves by Rops and Zorn. Also has beautiful paintings. Lugt 1956: During the 1914-1918 war, the collectort had his collection transported to Switzerland and, when the war was over, he decided, quite reluctantly, to sell it. In the spring of 1922 the sale was concluded in Zurich with the merchants Gust. Mayer, of Colnaghi & C ° of London, and Mr. A. MacDonald, then a partner of Harlow & C ° of New York, who bought the set at a price corresponding roughly to the total prices paid by Gerstenberg. This was a large sum, because he had acquired several of his finest pieces in the big sales between 1900 and 1914 against the big enthusiasts of the time such as Morgan, Gutmann, Rothschild etc. It was Gaiser, of the firm H. G. Gutekunst in Stuttgart, who had generally carried out his orders in the sales. MacDonald believed he had a buyer for the set in America, but when the collection arrived there those hopes were dashed by a change in economic conditions. He then sold the parts separately. We will get an idea of ​​the importance of this collection by the following enumeration of the most beautiful pieces: among the Dürer, the Adam and Eve (from the Buccleuch and Hubert collections), the Saint-Eustache, the Mélancolie (from the collection Behaim, Dumesnil and Scholtz), the Knight of Death (from the Barnard and Hubert collections) and the Life of the Virgin series (from the St. Aubin collection); Dürer's work was almost complete. Quite remarkable was the Rembrandts' series, in which we note the Piece aux cent florins, sur Japon (collection Weber and Hubert), the Three Crosses, 1st state and 2nd state (collection Artaria and Hubert), the Little Tomb ( coll. John Wilson) and another proof on Japan, Death of the Virgin in Irstate (Josi coll.), St. Jerome, B. 103, unstead (Josi, Aylesford, Buccleuch and Hawkins coll.), the St. François (coll. Theobald); the series of portraits by Rembrandt was superb: Rembrandt himself drawing, B. 22, Ir état (from the Worlidge, Brit. Mus., Dighton and Theobald collections) and the same in the second state on Japan (Morrison collection), all the states of Clement de Jonghe, Jan Asselijn, Irtat (Josi, Aylesford, Buccleuch and Hubert coll.), old Haaring, 2nd state (same sources) and the young, 2nd state in Japan (Brodhurst and Lanna collection) , the Lutma in 1st state on japan (Josi, Aylesford, Baccleuch and Hubert collection) and a superb 2nd state (from the Firmin-Didot and Hubert collections), the Six in 3rd state (Ploos van Amstel collection); in landscapes: the three Trees (coll. Theobald), the three Chaumières (coll. Morgan and Lesecq des Tournelles), the Landscape with the tower, Ir état (coll. Aylesford, Holford and Hubert), the Campagne du peseur d ' gold, on Japan (Barnard, Holford and Theobald collection) and a State of Landscape with the drinking cow, on Japan (Theobald collection). Then a series of 51 Schongauer, including several of the first order, 8 of Hirschvogel, the portraits by van Dijck himself in first states (except D. 10 and 15, the most beautiful of the collection Theobald), beautiful series by Claude and van Ostade. The purchase included neither the important modern prints that Gerstenberg owned, nor his beautiful prints by Goya, nor a few drawings by the latter and Rembrandt. Gerstenberg was an enthusiastic collector who passionately loved his collection. When in 1922 the buyers announced their decision to acquire his old prints at the agreed price, he could not contain his tears. He later consoled himself by developing his series of watercolors and drawings of the French school of the nineteenth century, and he managed to own a magnificent set of Delacroix, Daumier, Degas, Monet and, in general, the Impressionists. . We do not know, at the present time, what happened to this part of his collection, but it is feared that part of it was lost or destroyed in the offices of the insurance company "Victoria" in Berlin or in its property in Silesia during the Russian invasion in 1945. The Toulouse-Lautrec which had been evacuated to Denmark were sold out of court after the war from 1939 to 1945. Gertstenberg died ,very old in 1935. The mark reproduced by us in L.2785 has rarely been used, but the origin of the prints is more easily recognized by the initial M, followed by a number (see L.1840c...

Bibi Valentin. 1859. Etching and drypoint. Kennedy catalog 50 state ii; Glasgow catalog 34 state ii. 6 x 8 7/8 (sheet 8 11/16 x 10 11/16). Glasgow records 44 known impressions. A rich impression with burr, printed on watermarked laid paper with full margins. Signed and dated in the plate. Housed in a 20 x 16-inch archival mat A young girl, sits facing the viewer, leaning on her left elbow, legs extended to left. She wears a high-necked smock and buttoned boots...

Rue Furstenberg. 1894. Lithograph. Way 59; Levy 90; Tedeschi, Stratis and Spink catalog 97. Only state. 8 7/8 x 6 1/4 (sheet 14 1/4 x 8 7/8). A fine ...

The Fair. 1895-96. Lithograph. Way 92, Levy 144, Tedeschi, Stratis and Spink 135 state ii. Image 9 1/4 x 6 1/2 (sheet 13 x 9 5/8). A fine impression printed on antique cream-laid paper. Way lists 15-lifetime impressions (Goulding printed...

JAMES ABBOTT MCNEILL WHISTLER (1834 – 1903) THE WHITESMITHS, IMPRESSE DES CARMELITES 1894 (03) Way 53, LEVY 84 Transfer lithograph signed with butterfly in stone 8 ½ x 6 1//8". ...

Not signed. Edition of the "Gazette des Beaux-Arts" .The American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler can be considered a forerunner of the Post-Impressionist movement. Very good co...

Whistler, James A. M. AFTERNOON TEA. Way 147, Levy 114, TS&S 173. Lithograph, 1897. The only State, printed by Clot in an edition of 100, and published b...

The Little Wheelwright's. 1886. Etching. Kennedy 245; Glasgow 242. 2 1/2 x 3 3/4 (sheet 5 1/8 x 6 1/8). There was no lifetime edition. Glasgow lists only 13 other known impressions. A fine impression printed in black ink on white laid paper. Monogrammed with the butterfly in the plate. Housed in a 10 X 11 1/2 X 1-inch gold leaf period carved Celtic...

Venus. 1859. Etching and drypoint. Kennedy catalog 59 state ii; Glasgow catalog 60 state ii. 6 x 9 (sheet 8 x 11 3/16). Glasgow records 27 known impressions. A very rich impression p...

James Whistler (1834-1903), J.H. Woods’ Fruit Shop, Chelsea, etching and drypoint, 1887-88. Signed with the butterfly on the tab and annotated “imp,” also signed with the butterfly in pencil verso and numbered “1”. References: Kennedy 265 second state (of 2), Glasgow 327 second state (of 4). Trimmed by the artist around the plate mark except for the tab, in excellent condition. Printed in black ink on ivory laid paper, 3 3/4 x 5 1/8 inches. A fine impression of this great rarity; the print was never published. Glasgow accounts for four impressions. watermark: partial arms of Amsterdam(cf. Spink/Stratis/Tedeschi, watermark nos. 12ff.) This is before the third state in which heavy shading was added around the woman at the center, and the heads of figures at right and left of the figure are defined. In Glasgow’s fourth state the shading and the figure were removed; no impression is known of this state, but the state is inferred from the cancelled plate. According to Glasgow “Joseph Henry Wood had a greengrocer’s shop at 1 Park Walk...

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), DRURY LANE, etching, 1880-81, signed with the butterfly and inscribed imp in pencil [also with the butterfly upper right in the plate], on...

Victoria Club. 1879 and 1887. Lithograph. Way catalog 11 state ii; Levy catalog 22; Tedeschi, Stratis and Spink catalog number 15 state ii. 8 x 5 3/8 (sheet 16 5/8 x 12 1/16). A ri...

Tête-à-Tête in the Garden. 1894. Lithograph. Way 54, Levy 85, Tedeschi, Stratis and Spink 90. 8 x 6 1/2(sheet 10 7/8 x 8 1/2). Edition of 25-lifetime impressions plus a few proofs re...

Lindsey Row, Chelsea. 1888. Lithograph. Way 20; Levy 33; Tedeschi, Stratis and Spink 23. 5 x 8. Edition of 56 posthumous impressions printed by Goulding, in addition to the 14 lifet...

Rotherhithe (Originally published as Wapping). 1860. Etching. Kennedy catalog 66 state iii; Glasgow catalog 70. state vi. 10 3/4 x 7 3/4 (sheet 12 7/8 x 9 1/2). Series: "Sixteen Etc...

After WHISTLER, James Abbott McNeil. Photogravure 10x12 2/4" paper size, 7 1/2 x 9 1/2" image size Signed in pencil with artist’s butterfly monogram. This photogravure is from the...

Chelsea Rags. Chelsea Rags. 1888. Lithograph. Way 22, Levy 35, Tedeschi, Stratis and Spink 26. 7 1/8 x 6 5/16 (sheet 12 3/4 x 8). Printed on cream laid paper. Provenance: Miss Rosalind Birnie Philip, Whistler's sister-in-law, her seal verso: (Lugt 405). Michael Parkin Fine Art, Ltd. from whom purchased in 1972. Christie's, King Street.Signed with the butterfly in the image. One of 13 impressions listed by Way, before the image was transferred to supplementary stones for the edition of 500-1,000 printed by Way and issued in the Albemarle, January, 1892. Signed with the butterfly in the stone and in pencil. Housed in an elegant silk mat with a silver liner, and in a 16 3/4 x 14 3/4-inch silver leaf frame decorated with fleur-de-lis decorations. "And his interest in London has not been restricted to the Thames. Seeing the beautiful, where other men might be discouraged by dullness, he has taken his subject, now in the little cheap shop opening a low window upon the street, now in the forgotten church hidden away in a lonely square. And Chelsea Rags, the Shops of Chelsea, the Drury Lane, as well as The Butcher's Dog, are impressions of vague Rembrandtesque interiors where figures, grim or graceful, peer from out deep shadows— shops as lovely in his prints as the halls of a Veronese, or the palaces of a Claude." Elizabeth Robins...

Not signed. The American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler can be considered a forerunner of the Post-Impressionist movement. Passepartout included : 53 x 37 cm Image Dimensions ...

Kennedy catalog 36 state ii; Glasgow 45 state ii. Image: 4 7/8 x 7 3/4 (sheet 6 7/8 x 9 5/8).The Glasgow catalog records 32 known impressions. A scarce early etching -- there was no ...

"The Rag Gatherers" is an original etching on zinc plate by J. A. M. Whistler. The artist signed and dated the piece in the plate. It features a scene...

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Bridge, Amsterdam, etching, 1889, printed in brown ink on thin laid paper, signed with the butterfly on the tab and annotated “imp”, also signed with the butterfly on the verso and numbered 11. References: Kennedy 409, Glasgow 447, fifth state (of 5). In very good condition (slight nicks at edges), trimmed by the artist on the plate mark apart from the tab, 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches. Provenance: Vivian and Meyer P. Potamkin, Philadelphia; sale, Sotheby’s, New York, May 11, 1989, lot 302 Samuel Josefowitz, Pully, Switzerland A very fine, shimmering impression of this great rarity. This impression is included in the Glasgow inventory, ID number K4090301; only about 11 lifetime impressions in all states are known (three were also printed posthumously by Nathaniel Sparks...

JAMES ABBOTT McNEILL WHISTLER (1834 – 1903) THE BEGGARS 1879-80 (Glasgow 190 x/xvii: K.194 ii/ix?: M.191: W.159) Etching and drypoint, from “Venice, a Series ...

James Whistler (1834-1903), The Traghetto, etching and drypoint, 1879-80, signed with the butterfly on the tab and inscribed “imp”. Reference: Kennedy 19...

Whistler, James A. M. DRURY LANE RAGS. Way 21. lithograph, 1888. Edition of only 15. Signed with the butterfly in pencil, and also in the image. Printed on Japan paper. With Rosalind Birnie Philip's square-sha[ed collector's stamp, denoting a lifetime impression, lower left, verso. 6 x 6 1/2 inches (image), sheet: 12 x 8 inches (sheet) Framed to 24 1/2 x 20 1/2 inches. A brownish spot or stain near the center of the sheet, which may have been on the sheet at the time of printing, given Whistler's inclination to utilize old papers...

James Abbot McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Gabled Roofs, lithograph, 1893. Reference: Chicago (Spink et al) 64, only state. From the lifetime edition of 12 (there was also a posthumou...

Whistler, James A. M. THE MEDICI COLLAR. Spink 170, Way 153, Levy 186. Transfer lithograph, 1897. Number of impressions unknown. Printed in Paris by Le...

Original lithograph printed in black ink on China paper. Signed on the stone with the artist’s butterfly monogram upper center. A superb, richly printed impression of Spink’s only state From the edition of unknown size printed by Lemercier, Paris (apart from the posthumous edition of 58 printed by Goulding in 1904). Catalog: Spink 169; Levy 129; Way 151 Collections in which impressions from this edition can be found: Art Institute of Chicago (4 impressions); Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow (1 impression); British Museum, London (1 impression); Freer Art Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (1 impression); National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1 impression); University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor (1 impression); Boston Public Library (1 impression); Museum of Fine Art, Boston (1 impression); Cleveland Museum of Art (1 impression); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2 impressions); Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts, San Francisco (1 impression) . “The Shoemaker” was one of the first lithographs that Whistler made after his acrimonious break with his London printers, the Ways. It was entitled “The Shoemaker, Dieppe” by Rosalind Birnie Philip in her 1903 inventory of the artist’s estate, and indeed it does seem to have been drawn during a period when Whistler was making frequent Channel crossings...

James Whistler (1834-1903), The Bridge, Santa Marta, 1879-80, etching with drypoint, printed in sepia on fine laid paper. Signed with the butterfly and inscribed imp on the tab (also with an exceedingly light butterfly lower right in the plate). Kennedy 204, probably eighth (final) state; Glasgow 201, probably state 9 (of 9) (cf. Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock, James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné, University of Glasgow, 2011), Lochnan 199. Trimmed to the platemark by the artist, h: 11.8 x w: 7.9 in / h: 30 x w: 20.1 cm. A fine impression, printed with subtle tone. The bridge theme occurs repeatedly in Whistler’s vistas. It is also the main focus of more than one of the Venetian prints. While some bridges are seen from below, from where one would see it if approaching in a gondola (for example Ponte del Piovan, Kennedy 209), The Bridge depicts the scene from a high perspective, opening up the view into the far distance. The small boat approaching the arch in the foreground is again, as in the earlier Thames prints, a stock motif that is probably ultimately derived from the Japanese woodcuts of Hokusai and Hiroshige. The bridge here is the Ponte de le Terese over the Rio de l’Arzere in the Santa Marta quarter. The early biography of Whistler by Elizabeth and Joseph Pennell is essential for its “immense quantity of information” but also notorious for “the inherent hyperbole and misinformation” (Eric Denker, Annotated Bibliography, in Fine, p. 184). Still, it is worth quoting from the Pennels’ appraisal of The Bridge: “Simplicity of expression has never been carried further. Probably the finest plate, in its simplicity and directness, is The Bridge. Whistler now obtained the quality of richness by suggesting detail, and also by printing. In The Traghetto...

James Abbot McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), The Unsafe Tenement, etching, 1858. [signed in the plate lower right]. References: Kennedy 17. Glasgow 18, fourth state (of four). In very good condition, printed on a very thin (two ply?) Japan paper, with margins, 6 1/8 x 8 3/4, the sheet 8 1/4 x 11, archival mounting. A brilliant, black impression printed with astonishing clarity and exquisite detailing, on an ivory Japan paper. Presumably this is a proof impression before the relatively large edition published in this state (the edition was not on this paper). Provenance: Inscribed “To Otto J. Schneider from his friend Frederick Keppel”. Schneider (1875-1946) was an American artist, noted for his realism, influenced by Whistler. Keppel was of course the well-known American dealer, one of whose specialties was Whistler prints. Keppel had a good relationship with Whistler until, as in most of his relationships, Whistler became inordinately troublesome – at which point Keppel wrote Whistler a longish, mocking poem, with lines such as these: “Like cackling hens or cocks a-crowing Your tireless trumpet keeps a-blowing. ” After this, Keppel wrote “at this point all my intercourse with this extraordinary man came to an end.” (In the lower right is the ghost of another inscription, now erased, apparently to another friend from Edna (?) Schneider who presumably owned this print after Otto Schneider...

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Limehouse, etching, 1859. References: Glasgow 48, fifth state (of 6), Kennedy 40, third state (of 3), signed with the butterfly in pencil in the lower margin. [Also signed and dated in the plate.]With margins, 5 x 7 7/8 inches, the sheet 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches. Published as no. 12 in A Series of Sixteen Etchings of Scenes on the Thames and Other Subjects, otherwise known as the Thames Set. In good condition apart from a soft diagonal fold in the sky. A very fine impression, in black ink on a thin Japan paper. Provenance: Dr. John W. Randall (cf. Lugt 2130), without his mark, annotated on the mat. Limehouse, the entrance to the West Indies Docks, lies opposite the Surrey Commercial Docks in Rotherhithe, along the lower Thames. It’s unusual to find the signed butterfly (or any pencil signature) on the early London etchings, but it is known that Whistler signed...

James Whistler (1834-1903), The Mill, 1889, etching and drypoint, signed in pencil with the butterfly on the tab and inscribed “imp”, and inscribed “first state” (twice) and annotated “Wunderlich” and signed again with the butterfly verso. Reference: Kennedy 413, first state (of 5). Glasgow 457, second state (of 6; see discussion below) (cf. Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock, James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné, University of Glasgow, 2011) On laid paper, in very good condition, trimmed just outside of the platemark all around except for the tab by the artist, 6 1/4 x 9 3/8 inches. A very fine impression of this great rarity, printed in black/brown ink with a slight veil of plate tone. provenance: H. Wunderlich & Co., New York Louis B. Dailey, New York (Lugt 4500) sale, Sotheby’s, New York, October 31, 2003, lot 69 literature; Neue Lagerliste 122: James McNeill Whistler – Etchings...

James Whistler (1834-1903), Venus, 1859. Etching and drypoint, printed in black ink on laid paper, an impression in the second (final) state: there was no published edition. 6 x 9 inches (15 x 22.6 cm) sheet 73/8 x 117/8 inches (18.8 x 30.3 cm) Reference: Kennedy 59; Glasgow 60 A very fine impression. A study of Héloïse, ‘Fumette’, asleep in bed, her head pressed into the pillow and the bedclothes covering her lower legs. This is one of three portraits Whistler made of Fumette in 1859: one of the others shows her standing and in the third only her head and shoulders are depicted. Venus is a work in the Realist tradition, and may be compared with Courbet’s nudes of the same period. The artist may also have had in mind Rembrandt’s study of Antiope in his etching Jupiter and Antiope. Venus was never published and there is no record of it being shown until 1898 when it was included in an Exhibition of Etchings, Drypoints and Lithographs by Whistler at H. Wunderlich & Co., New York. To have been overlooked for exhibition until so late in Whistler’s life might suggest that the subject was considered improper. Frederick Wedmore, whose catalogue of Whistler’s etchings...

The Venetian Mast. 1879-80. Etching and drypoint. Kennedy catalog 195 state .vi; Glasgow catalog 219 state x/xii. 13 3/8 x 6 3/8. Glasgow records 53 impressions. A fine, atmospheric...

James Whistler (1834-1903), The Beggars, etching and drypoint, 1879-80, signed with the butterfly and inscribed “imp”. Reference: Glasgow 190, seventh sta...

James Whistler (1830-1903), Battersea Morn (also Battersea Dawn), drypoint, 1875, Kennedy 155, signed in pencil with the butterfly and inscribed “imp”. Kennedy 155, first state (of ...