?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 8,000
JAMES A. M. WHISTLER The Venetian Mast.
Etching and drypoint on antique cream laid paper, 1879-80. 340x165 mm; 13 1/2x6 1/2 inches, wide margins. MacDonald's sixth state (of 12). Signed with the large shaded butterfly and inscribed "imp" in pencil, lower left. Partial Strasburg Lily watermark. From Twelve Etchings. A superb, richly-inked and early proof impression with selective wiping around the rightmost figure.
Provenance: Henry Harper Benedict, New York, with the black ink stamp (Lugt 2936, verso); Charles C. Cunningham, Jr., New England, with the brown ink stamp (Lugt 4684, verso).
According to MacDonald, "The etching went through many states before Whistler was satisfied. In 1880 and 1881, he printed on paper with wide margins. As late as the sixth and seventh states, impressions are signed with the large, veined butterfly of 1881." Kennedy 95; Glasgow 219.
