The Mill
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, first state (of 6) (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: Louis B. Dailey Collection; Howard Mansfield (Lugt 1342).
Whistler marked some of his finest impressions of the Amsterdam set for Wunderlich, his representative in New York.
In this first state impression, some of the drypoint work shows a burr (for example, near the standing woman); this is worn out or burnished out in later impressions. The composition was complete in the first state, and in subsequent states Whistler added shading or strengthened areas of wear. We believe our impression is actually before the first state impression (Freer Collection) depicting the first state in the Glasgow catalogue.
Whistler attempted in his Amsterdam etchings to use extensive etching and drypoint lines to create the atmospheric changes in tone which he achieved in the Venice group through plate tone. Doing so, he created extremely delicate plates, which could only produce a few impressions before the plate became unusable. Thus the Amsterdam set plates are extremely rare, and The Mill is among the rarest of the group – in fact this is the only impression we know of to reach the market in the past 30 years.
Critics have viewed The Mill as a paean to Rembrandt, which it surely is, but one wonders whether Whistler might have also thought of the etchings of Van Ostade, particularly those showing the shadowy indoor settings (such as The Barn), with workers or peasants merging into the darkness. Whistler’s brilliant chiaroscuro etchings (such as Doorway and Vine, or the Nocturne: Furnace of the Venice Set) come to mind also – here the light of day illuminates windmills in the horizon.
POR