Etching printed in black on antique, cream laid paper, 1858. 163x110 mm; 6 3/8x4 1/4 inches, full margins. MacDonald's fifth state (of 5), with the name and address of the printer, Delâtre, lower left. From Twelve Etchings from Nature. A superb, richly-inked, early impression with warm plate tone and no sign of wear.
Fumette, or 'Racy' as her nickname translates, was also known as 'La Tigresse' because of her hot temper. Her real name was Héliose; she was a milliner from the Latin Quarter of Paris and one of Whistler's models and mistresses during the late 1850s.
The solidness of the figure, set against a blank background, is typical of many Whistler portraits from this period. Fumette was also the model for several of Whistler's other etchings (Kennedy 3, 15, 56, 57 and 59). Kennedy 13; Glasgow 12.
