Etching printed on Japanese paper, 1858
Made in Paris in the summer of 1858 before Whistler’s trip to the Rhine. This tinker, a mender of pots and pans, is typical of the subjects of working women from the lowest levels of society that were popular among realist artists in France. The straight-forward, unidealised treatment matches the choice of subject.
This is one of a group of impressions of early plates in the Fitzwilliam, which were probably not printed before 1861, when the plates of ‘The French Set’ were reprinted by Delâtre for Serjeant Thomas (see Fumette).
Given by G. J. F. Knowles 1954
Collections record: P.271-1954
