The Large Pool
James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), The Large Pool, etching, 1879, signed in pencil lower margin with the butterfly, dated and annotated “imp”, also titled and dedicated to James Waddell. Reference: Kennedy 174, fifth state (of 7). On laid paper with a Strasbourg Lily and initials WR watermark. In good condition (tiny fox mark at lower center), with wide margins. 7 3/8 x 10 7/8 inches, the sheet 9 3/4 x 13 3/4 inches, archival mounting.
Provenance: Kennedy Gallery (with their stock number a25414 verso)
Unidentified collector with initials LM, stamp verso (not found in Lugt)
A fine impression of this extremely rare print, signed in pencil with the early large shaded butterfly.
James Waddell was the accountant appointed to oversee the reclamation of Whistler’s artworks after his 1879 bankruptcy.
The Large Pool shows the Pool of London at Wapping, the scene of several prints of the Thames done some twenty years earlier. In composition it anticipates the etchings Whistler was about to do in Venice.