James Abbott McNeill Whistler. 1834-1903.
Thames Warehouses (from the Thames Tunnel Pier). 1859. Etching and drypoints. Kennedy 38.ii/ii; Glasgow 46.iv(corroded a)v. 3 x 8 (sheet 4 5/8 x 9 1/8). Issued as plate 1 of 'A Series of Sixteen Etchings of Scenes on the Thames and Other Subjects' (Thames Set). Glasgow lists 63 known impressions. A rich impression printed on cream laid paper. Ex collection: Dr. Samuel Henry Nazeby Harrington, 1862-1937, with his seal recto and verso. (Lugt 1347). He was a medical doctor and author of The Engraved Work of Sir Francis Seymour Haden, An Illustrated and Descriptive Catalogue (1910). Signed and dated 'Whistler 1859' in the plate, lower right. $3,250.
In this state, spots of corrosion appear at lower left and at the top of the plate.
The etching shows the Hermitage Coal Wharf and other wharves in Wapping. This is a busy scene with several sailing ships and lighters. The Coal Wharf later became the Hermitage Steam Wharf, from where the London and Edinburgh Shipping Company ran regular services to Leith.
According to the notes in the University of Glasgow online catalog, "After publication in 1871, it was exhibited by James Anderson Rose (1819-1890) in Liverpool and elsewhere and by Whistler himself, in London in 1874. 23 Impressions had been shown in International exhibitions in Paris and London in 1862, and were exhibited later in Philadelphia, in 1879. According to the Pennells: 'Thames Warehouses and Black Lion Wharf won him immediate recognition as "the most admirable etcher of the present day," when sent to South Kensington Museum where International Exhibitions were held during several years.' (Pennell 1908, I, p. 97.)
Please click on the link to the Glasgow online catalogue raisonné Thames Warehouses.
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