Vitré: the Canal
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Vitré: the Canal, lithograph, 1893. Reference: Chicago (Spink et al) 63, only state. In very good condition, the full sheet, 9 1/4 x 5 1/4, the sheet 14 x 8 1/4 inches.
Provenance: Childs Gallery, Boston, still in their mat, with their stamp both verso, and on their mat (with their catalogue notations).
A very fine impression.
Printed on a cream laid paper, presumably from the posthumous printing by Frederick Goulding in 1904. With the watermark D & C Blauw, Spink watermark 55. This is not one of the watermarks specified by Spink for either the lifetime or posthumous impressions of this print, but was regarded by Spink as a favorite paper for Goulding and frequently used by him in the 1904 printings. The posthumous edition was 45, the lifetime 32.
This is one of the five lithographs Whistler made on his trip through Brittany with his wife in 1893.
Vitré: the Canal, with its painterly effects and subtle tonalities, has been one of the most sought-after of the Whistler lithographs; this impression, printed superbly by master-printer Goulding, demonstrates why.
Vitré: the Canal - Detail