UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

Home > The Catalogue > Browse > Subjects > Etchings > Etching

The Model Lying Down

Impression: Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art
(1909.115)
Number: 110
Date: 1873/1874
Medium: drypoint
Size: 188 x 277 mm
Signed: no
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 1
Known impressions: 1
Catalogues: K.121; M.120; W.107
Impressions taken from this plate  (1)
The Model Lying Down probably dates from between 1873 and 1874. The Model Lying Down is grouped by both Mansfield and Kennedy with prints from the period 1873-1875. 1

It is a similar composition to a drypoint that is dated, confusingly, '1861' on the copper plate, but the date probably came from an earlier etching on the same plate (Nude woman reclining 092). It is unlikely to date from that early. Among Whistler's etchings and drypoints of 1861 few are like The Model Lying Down in technique although it shares some minor characteristics with The Open Book 089 and Brushing the Hair 094, both dating from the early 1860s.

1: Kennedy 1910[more] (cat. no. 121); Kennedy 1910[more] (cat. no. 121).

The combination of semi-classical dress and decorated fans could link it with studies for the watercolour In the Studio m0324 of 1865, the oil Tanagra y092 of ca 1869, and the 'Six Projects' of the late 1860s and early 1870s. The robes also link it to several drawings such as The Purple Iris m0397 of 1871/1872, a study of a standing draped figure. The setting is comparable to scenes in Whistler's studio dating from 1870s, such as Study for 'Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour' m0469 and Study in Grey and Pink m0470. Furthermore the subject and technique link it to studies such as Draped Model 109, which is dated 1873/1874.