Etching and drypoint printed in black on antique, cream laid paper, 1870-79. 228x152 mm; 9x6 inches, wide margins. MacDonald's tenth state (of 14), with the house façade complete but before the addition of the butterfly lower left. One of approximately only 22 known impressions. Signed with the butterfly and inscribed "imp." in pencil, lower left. Ex-collection Bernard Buchanan MacGeorge, Glasgow, with the ink stamp (Lugt 394, verso; according to Lugt, MacGeorge possessed an impressive collection of Whistler proofs, which were acquired in 1902 by H. Wunderlich & Co., later Kennedy & Co., of New York); and John H. Wrenn, Chicago, with the ink stamp (Lugt 1475, verso). A brilliant, dark, and proof-like impression of this exceedingly scarce etching.
According to MacDonald, "Whistler and his mother first visited Speke Hall near Liverpool, which was rented by Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892), in September 1869. The artist stayed there for several months from August 1870, painting Arrangement in Black: Portrait of F. R. Leyland." A prominent Liverpool shipping magnate and art collector, Leyland was among Whistler's most important patrons. Whistler likely began the etching in the late fall/winter of 1870, judging from the leafless trees. This is the first and most finished view of Speke Hall by Whistler; another more-sketchlike etching of the house dates from 1875.
The figure of the woman in the forground is probably F. R. Leyland's wife, Frances Leyland. She is drawn enitrely in drypoint. Whistler likely modeled the figure on standing images of women, set against blank backgrounds, from Japanese Ukiyo-e woodcuts. Their turned posture was thought to be better suited to show off the beauty of their kimonos. Whistler appears to have reworked this etching during subsequent visits to Speke Hall, significantly altering the figure of the woman in the foreground to reflect changing fashions from 1870 to 1879, when the artist recorded the printing of the last impression from the plate. Kennedy 96; Glasgow 101.
