The Canal, Ostend |  Hunterian Art Gallery (46977) | |
| Number: | 352 | |
| Date: | 1887 | |
| Medium: | etching | |
| Size: | 67 x 179 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at lower left | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 4 | |
| Catalogues: | K.353; M.350; W.248 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (4) | ||
The Canal, Ostend probably dates from September 1887 although it could date from the previous year. The butterfly signature is consistent with this date. It was first sold in November 1887. 1
1: Whistler to T. McLean, 17 November 1887, GUW #13016.
There is no record of a trip to Ostend in 1886 except for a newspaper, which stated that he had been working in Ostend during the summer of 1886:
'Ostend has been the scene of Mr. Whistler's summer tasks. He has
etched and sketched the busy stir of life on the Digue and in the
Kursaal. There are under a dozen etchings, besides the two nocturnes [Petite Bonne à la porte d'une auberge [y367]] in
oil for the coming show in Suffolk-street. A limited number only of
the plates will be issued from the Fulham studio press, for in this
instance Mr. Whistler will be his own pressman.'
2
2: Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle, 29 October 1886.