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James Abbott McNeill Whistler
The Bridge, Santa Maria

1879-80

About the Item

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 there is the same scheme as in The Miser and The Kitchen, but the Venice plate is more painterlike. Without taking away from the etched line he has given a fullness of tone which makes the background of [Rembrandt’s ] The Burgomaster Six weak by comparison. And he knew this” (Pennell/Pennell, p. 197). The plate was originally advertised for but not included in the First Venice Set where it was substituted by the somewhat more conventional view of The Little Mast (Kennedy 185). It was published as part of the Second Venice Set in 1886.

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Old Putney Bridge
By James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Located in New York, NY
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...
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Late 19th Century Impressionist Landscape Prints

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The Mill, Amsterdam, 1889
By James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Located in New York, NY
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...
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James McNeill Whistler (1830-1903), Lagoon: Noon, etching and drypoint, 1879-1880, signed with the butterfly and inscribed “imp” on the tab [also signed with the butterfly in the plate lower left]. Reference: Glasgow 209, third state (of 3), Kennedy 216, third state (of 3); Lochnan 231, 4 7/8 x 7 7/8 inches. A fine impression with very little plate tone, and printed with extraordinary attention to the etching and drypoint details. The printed butterfly, usually only barely visible, is clearly defined in this impression (see detail below). Kennedy mades special note that an impression like this, with the clearly visible butterfly, was in the collection of John H. Wrenn. On a commission from the Fine Arts Society, Whistler created the plates of his Venice series...
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1870s Impressionist Landscape Prints

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By Camille Pissarro
Located in New York, NY
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Le Pont de Pierre, a Rouen, etching and drypoint, 1887. Reference: Delteil 66, second state (of 2). Signed lower right in pencil, annotated lower left ...
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1880s Impressionist Landscape Prints

Materials

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Located in New York, NY
Theodore Roussel (1847-1926), A Street in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, etching, soft ground etching, drypoint, 1912, signed in pencil on the tab and inscribed...
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