Becquet

Becquet

Item Information

Title:
Becquet
Title (alt.):
The fiddler
Description:
A young man with bushy hair, moustache and imperial, and wearing a smoking cap, sits facing front, bending forward, holding between his legs a violoncello slightly indicated. At the bottom of the plate and near the top are muskets and other traces of an earlier etching. There is shading in the background, The plate is unsigned.
Artist:
Whistler, James McNeill, 1834-1903
Date:
[1859]
Format:
Prints
Genre:
Etchings
Drypoints
Portrait prints
Location:
Boston Public Library
Arts Department
Collection (local):
James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). Lithographs, Etchings, and Drawings
Subjects:
Sculptors
Musicians
Extent:
1 print : etching and drypoint ; plate mark 26 x 19 cm
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/3r076j814
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Notes:
Title from catalogue raisonné.
Alternative title from item.
Kennedy: K. 52
Handwritten on item: "One of sixteen etchings" (Thames set). Published as "the Fiddler."
Additional information accompanying item: Becquet was a sculptor, in Paris, of musical tastes and accomplishments. He was born in 1829 and died in 1907. "Whistler told me that this plate was originally an oblong etching of West Point, made by an old classmate, who brought it to him for his opinion. Whistler scraped off the view of West Point and put Becquet in its place; why, he did not say. At lower right corner the stacked muskets may be plainly seen; possibly it was in order to cover them that the earliest impressions were printed with a frisket." -Kennedy.
Notes (date):
Date supplied by cataloger.
This date is inferred.
Notes (citation):
Kennedy, Edward G. (Edward Guthrie). "The etched work of Whistler ; compiled, arranged and described by Edward G. Kennedy, with an introduction by Royal Cortissoz." Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1978, San Francisco.
Notes (object):
Fourth state of four.
Many of the lines at right and left have either worn away or have disappeared. A few of the strong, salient lines appear to have been retouched.
Identifier:
17_14_000032
W. 1196 (no longer used)
Barcode:
36666000188447