UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

Published as Little Arthur in Douze eaux-fortes d'après Nature (Twelve Etchings from Nature, the 'French Set') in 1858.

The early 'French Set' etchings were printed by Auguste Delâtre (1822-1907). It seems likely that impressions of the third state of Little Arthur, with Delâtre's address on the plate, were part of the original 'French Set' published in Paris. It is not known how many complete sets were printed in Paris but at least a dozen seems likely. One impression of the second state was owned by Philippe Burty (1830-1890), and a third state was owned by Alfred Beurdeley (1847-1919) (), who presumably bought them in Paris.

The copper plate may have been reduced in size in London, and Delâtre's name removed, for the fourth state, when Whistler and Haden undertook to print the edition. It was then printed for the English edition of the 'French set'. This would account for Mansfield's assertion that it was published in the 'fifth' state in the 'French Set'. 11

This was a fairly well-known image. It was first shown in an exhibition of the work of contemporary painters at The Hague in 1863. 12 Nine years later, an impression went touring with the collection of James Anderson Rose (1819-1890) in 1874. 13

It was also exhibited in public exhibitions, such as in Philadelphia in 1879. 14 Two of three impressions owned by Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) were lent to an exhibition at the Union League Club, New York, in 1881 (, , ) and Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) lent his impression to an exhibition organised by the Caxton Club, Chicago, in 1900 (). 15

Others were for sale in print dealer's shows, particularly at H. Wunderlich & Co. (1898 and 1903) and F. Keppel & Co. (1902) in New York, and Obach & Co. in London in 1903. 16 Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) bought two of the exhibits at Wunderlich's in 1898.

After Whistler's death, Little Arthur was exhibited in the big Memorial Exhibitions in New York, Paris and London. For instance, an impression was lent by King Edward VII to the Whistler Memorial show in London in 1905. 17

Little Arthur was a popular image among Whistler's family (, ) including Thomas de Kay Winans (1820-1878) (), patrons () and public. Winans bought Whistler's etchings in the summer of 1859, through Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910), to whom he wrote on 20 June: 'I enclose two drafts on Liverpool amounting to £63 sterling and as requested by you, for the etchings - they arrived in good order and are considered very fine, doing Jemmy great credit, I hope he will get up another sett' [sic]. 18 By that date Whistler was indeed at work on the next set, of the Thames.

The first impression to go to a public collection was a final state given with a complete 'French Set to South Kesington Museum (now the V&A) by Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910) in 1861 (). Haden also owned a first () and third () state, which were sold in 1898 through H. Wunderlich & Co., and with the advice of Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938), to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) ().

The next public collection to acquire an impression was the British Museum, which bought one from the collection of Philippe Burty (1830-1890) in 1866 (), and another from 'Mr Thomas' - either Edmund Thomas (1842-1883) or Percy Thomas (1846-1922) - in 1872 (). 19

In 1873 Whistler sold a group of etchings to Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892). However, as he wrote to Auguste Delâtre (1822-1907), Leyland did not want the Haden portraits:

(Translated: 'The etchings arrived in perfect condition - and have been much admired. There are 29 - of which Mr Leyland would like to buy 23 from you. The other six he does not care to own. ... The six rejected prints are - the 5 small portraits of Mr. Haden's children -... I feel that it is perhaps not a bad offer - Because you will doubtless be able to sell the other small prints either to Avery or to others -') 20

Two of the five 'rejected' etchings were probably Little Arthur and Annie [7], which were published in the 'French Set' by Delâtre; other possibilities are Seymour, Standing [10], Annie Haden with Books [6], Seymour Haden, Jr, Seated [9], Annie, Seated [32], Seymour [30], Arthur Haden [66] or Annie Haden [67].

Delâtre may well have sold some to Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904), for at some time Avery acquired three impressions, of the first (reproduced above), third and final states of Little Arthur (, , ). These went with his collection to form the basis of the Print Collection in New York Public Library. The Library also received the gift of a good impression of the final state from the print dealer, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932) ().

Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921) described it as a 'charming little portrait'. 21 However, at auction the prices were fairly low. For instance, three impressions from Burty's collection were bought by print dealers in 1876 at prices from £0.15.0 to a high of £8.0.0, and one at the Joshua Hutchinson Hutchinson (ca 1829 - d.1891) sale in 1892 brought only £0.12.0. 22 Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) owned two different states, and having exhibited his collection in a travelling exhibition in 1874, he sold these, one on India and the other on Japanese paper, at Sotheby's in a three-day sale from 27 June 1876 (lots 653-654) .

Colnaghi's handled several third states; for instance, one went to the Library of Congress (), and another to Lessing Julius Rosenwald (1891-1971) and thence to the National Gallery of Art (). One owned by Charles Sydenham Haden (1822-1898) was eventually bought through Colnaghi's by Margaret Selkirk Watson Parker (1867-1936) and bequeathed to the University of Michigan Museum of Art (), and another was sold to Albert Henry Wiggin (1868-1951) and went to Boston Public Library (). Impressions tended to pass from dealer to dealer: both Colnaghi's and Knoedler's handled one owned by Alfred Beurdeley (1847-1919) and later by Charles A. Coffin (1844-1926) (); likewise both Colnaghi's and Wunderlich's handled another (). Colnaghi's sold one to the Kupferstich-Kabinett Dresden in 1897 () and Obach & Co. sold another to the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin, 1908, this for the bargain basement price of £2.10.0 ().

Among the early collectors of Little Arthur was Freer, as already mentioned, who had also bought a final state, in 1890, quite early in his Whistler collecting career (). Other collectors included James Guthrie Orchar (1825-1888) (); George Aloysius Lucas (1824-1909) (); Henry F. Sewall (1816-1896) (); Harry Brisbane Dick (1855-1916) (); Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) (); Clarence Buckingham (1855-1913) (); James A. McCallum (1862-1948) (); Edward de Turck Bechtel (1880-1957) (); and Pauline Kohlsaat Palmer (1882-1956) ().