Etching, c.1886, printed on laid paper as the frontispiece to Whistler as I knew him by Mortimer Menpes, London 1904, no. 398 of 500 copies.
Whistler was a frequent visitor both professionally and socially to the house of Mortimer and Rosa Menpes in Fulham (see Studies of James McNeill Whistler). Menpes had set up a printing room there so that Whistler’s Venetian etchings could be printed. Whistler was godfather to the youngest of the Menpes’ daughters, born in 1884 and christened Dorothy Whistler in his honour. She sits on the right of this plate, with her brother standing in front of her and her sister (sketched twice) on the left. Dorothy was also the subject of a painting made at this time. Menpes’s book, which is dedicated to Dorothy, remains an important source of information on Whistler’s methods of biting, inking and printing.
Reitlinger Bequest 1950 (received 1991)
The image on this record is from the Rosenwald Collection and is used under CC0 Attribution. We aim to replace this with our image in due course.{: .badge .badge-dark .d-block .p-3 }
