Not included as part of the published ‘French Set’, but drawn on the plate direct from life at the same time as The Old Rag Gatherer (above). Originally the room was empty of figures, and Whistler called the plate Quartier Mouffetard after the district in the Latin Quarter of Paris. It was only in 1861 that he added the figures, reportedly at the suggestion of Serjeant Thomas, who had bought the plates of ‘The French Set’ and had them printed at the same time as Whistler’s early Thames etchings in 1861. This impression is printed on a fly-leaf torn from an old book. It bears the inscription in graphite 18/2/62, which may have been the date of printing or purchase (Reading in Bed has the same inscription).
Given by Mrs T. H. Riches 1923
Collections record: P.2086-R
