Technique

The paint is thin and the pale grey undercoat is visible, particularly at the bottom of the panel.

This fine, almost miniature, work was painted with fluid strokes of a tiny sable brush. It was probably completed in one session, with the colours painted into each other while still wet – so that some of the struts of the abandoned mine-workings are conveyed by washing away the details behind, rather in the manner of watercolour painting.

Conservation History

Frame

Small Dowdeswell frame, made for Whistler's one-man exhibition in 1884 [11.1 cm]. 1