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James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Becquet

1859

$4,000
£3,071.83
€3,520.28
CA$5,631.01
A$6,307.98
CHF 3,280.93
MX$76,944.31
NOK 41,770.63
SEK 39,386.73
DKK 26,274.38

About the Item

J. Becquet, Sculptor (The Fiddler). 1859. Drypoint. Kennedy 52 state iv; Glasgow 62. state i. 10 1/8 x 7 1/2 (sheet 15 5/16 x 9 3/4). Series: "Sixteen Etchings or Scenes on the Thames and Other Subjects" (Thames Set), plate 8. Illustrated: Salaman, The Great Painter-Etchers from Rembrandt to Whistler, Print Collector's Quarterly 1 (1911): 36; Salaman, Modern Masters of Etching: Whistler; Guichard, British Etchers, 1850-1940. Printed on cream-laid paper with a fleur-de-lys watermark and a JHamp Zoon (Chicago 321). Provenance: Howard G. Mansfield (1848-1938) to Harris F. Whittemore (1864-1939) (Lugt 1834a). Unsigned. This is an exceptionally rich impression with an historically important provenance Whistler's portrait captures the musician's direct gaze and suggests that the musician and his instrument are inseparable by dissolving the lines of the cello into Becquet's body. The French sculptor and musician, Just Becquet (1829-1907), was a friend of the artist who, according to Joseph Pennell's Whistler Journal, lived in his studio among "disorder and his cello". Kennedy writes, "Whistler told me that this plate was originally an oblong etching of West Point, made by an old classmate, who brought it to him for his opinion. Whistler scraped off the view of West Point and put Becquet in its place; why, he did not say. At the lower right corner the stacked muskets may be plainly seen; possibly it was in order to cover them that the earliest impressions (I) were printed with a frisket." James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) achieved fame as a painter, He was also a serious and innovative printmaker, producing some 450 etchings and about 180 lithographs. His imagery and the technical means that he developed for etching and for printing plates influenced not only his fellow printmakers in Europe and America but also many others who followed.

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The Master Smith
By James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Located in Storrs, CT

The Master Smith. 1895. Lithograph. Way 84; Levy 123; Tedeschi, Stratis and Spink 120.i/ii. 4 1/2 x 5 1/2 (sheet 76 x 5 3/8). Only 15 lifetime impressions (in 2 states) were listed by Way; Goulding printed 38 impressions on 14 December 1903. The stone was erased in 1903. Printed on cream wove proofing paper. Monogrammed with the butterfly in the stone. A fine impression of this extremely rare lithograph.

Tedeschi, Stratis, and Spink write, page 366: As originally transferred to stone, the image includes trial marks made with a pointed crayon to the left of the sitter's shoulder. There is also a smudge at lower right below the image and a small stry mark upper right. Only one impression of this state has been located. Now in the Britigh Museum, London, it once belonged to Thomas Way and is illustrated in the Levy (1975) catalogue.' The impression illustrated above lacks the stray mark on the right, as the sheet is too small to accommodate it.

Tedeschi, Stratis and Spink write, page 366: 'This portrait of George Govier, was drawn ad the master smith conversed with the artist during a break from his work. Govier was born in Lyme Regis...

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The Fair
By James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Located in Storrs, CT
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...
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Chelsea Rags
By James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Located in Storrs, CT
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...
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Rue Furstenberg
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Located in Storrs, CT
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 ...
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Victoria Club
By James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Located in Storrs, CT
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...
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The Little Wheelwright's
By James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Located in Storrs, CT
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...
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