Irving as Philip of Spain, No. 1 | ||
Number: | 158 | |
Date: | 1876/1877 | |
Medium: | drypoint | |
Size: | 228 x 153 mm | |
Signed: | no | |
Inscribed: | no | |
Set/Publication: | no | |
No. of States: | 4 | |
Known impressions: | 6 | |
Catalogues: | K.170; M.167; W.139 | |
Impressions taken from this plate (6) |
PUBLICATION
The Fine Art Society probably intended to include it in the set of cancelled plates published in 1879, but only one impression was taken (
) before it was withdrawn and Irving as Philip of Spain, No. 2 [159] substituted in the main edition.

EXHIBITIONS
Only one exhibition of this rare drypoint is known during Whistler's lifetime, when it was shown in a print dealer's show, by H. Wunderlich & Co. in New York in 1898, under the incorrect title, 'Irving as Charles the First'. 14
14: New York 1898 (cat. no. 118).
SALES & COLLECTORS
Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890) bought two impressions of 'Irving' (which could have been this drypoint and/or Irving as Philip of Spain, No. 2 [159])
for £1.1.0 and £3.3.0. 15
Mortimer Luddington Menpes (1860-1938) owned unique impressions of both the first (
) and second (
) states. The first was bought from Obach & Co., by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) in 1903, and the second by Margaret Selkirk Watson Parker (1867-1936), possibly at the same time. A later state, possibly the fourth state, was acquired by Howard Mansfield (1849-1938) and exhibited in Boston in 1910 as 'Irving as Philip of Spain, No. 1' (
). 16
Mortimer Luddington Menpes (1860-1938) owned unique impressions of both the first (



15: Howell to Whistler, [6-25 November 1877], GUW #02178.
16: Boston 1910 (cat. no. 115).