Detail from The Canal, Amsterdam, 1889, James McNeill Whistler, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

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M.1018
St Paul's

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1885
Collection: Private Collection
Accession Number: none
Medium: dark brown ink and wash
Support: cream laid paper, watermark 'PIRIS/ 01 Style'
Size: 8 7/8 x 7 3/8" (225 x 187 mm)
Signature: none
Inscription: none

St Paul's

Composition

According to Mortimer Luddington Menpes (1860-1938) this was a 'Wash drawing of St Paul's / Study for an etched plate', but no such etched plate has survived. 1

Technique

St Paul's, Private Collection
St Paul's, Private Collection

It was probably drawn using a quill pen, and then developed with the feathered end of the quill, using mostly water. In some cases the wash may have been applied first, and pen line drawn through it, the result being that the ink spreads out on each side of the line. 2

Notes:

1: Mortimer Menpes Collection of Etchings, Drypoints and Lithographs, by J. McNeill Whistler, E. Brown & Phillips, Leicester Galleries, London, 1903 (cat. no. 209).

2: See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1018).

Last updated: 10th May 2021 by Margaret