Dundee Art Galleries & Museum: 272-1987-302
Artist: Tissot, James Jacques Joseph
Date: 1878
State: 1/1
Size: 36.8 x 20.3 cm
Medium: Etching and Drypoint
| Alternative Title(s) | Le portique de la Galerie nationale à Londres |
| Details | Etching and drypoint. Black ink on thin off-white laid paper. Label on back states it was for sale by the agent James Bourlet at the cost of £7.7.0.Tissot often used brown-black ink on laid paper or cream laid paper, occasionally white Japanese paper. His early works printed in London (up to 1882) tended to favour black ink and typically white or whitish papers; often antique or Japanese papers.Signature in print on far right, above first step ‘1878 J.J. Tissot’. Circular studio stamp on bottom left. Tissot only stamped copies of his prints which he considered of fine quality. Tissot also often signed his work, in graphite outside of the print – no such signature is visible.It is known that Tissot produced editions of his works in London (usually by Haden’s printer Frederick Goulding) and Paris. Tissot’s London impressions, widely regarded as his finest, were produced in small editions and consequently are relatively rare. Portico of the National Gallery, London was only printed in London.According to the Dudley Exhibition Catalogue (1882) there were approximately 100 impressions taken. |
| Description | The scene depicts the portico of the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square in London. Through the portico can be seen the Church of St.-Martin’s-in-the-Fields. The female model, playing the role of an art student carrying her portfolio, is Kathleen Newton.Tissot’s etchings tended to reference his paintings and Portico of the National Gallery, London is related to Tissot’s painting London Visitors, 1874, of which two versions exist (Toledo Museum of Art and Layton Art Collection, Milwaukee Art Museum). The Grosvenor Gallery exhibited a version of the etching in 1879 (no. 283) (Wentworth, p.178). |
| Exhibited Dundee | Exhibited at the Dundee Fine Art Exhibition, Albert Institute, 1881 (Fourth Gallery, No. 868) and marked for sale at £7.7.0. As the label on the back of the print confirms this price Orchar bought it at this exhibition. Seven other Tissot etchings, Deep in Thought (No. 801 £4.4.0), Spring (No. 839 £5.20), Mavourneen (No.858 £6.10), “How Happy could I be with Either” (No. 867 £8.8), The Widower (No, 871 £11.11), October: Last Proof (No. 891 £12.12) and A Winter Walk: Last Proof (No. 911 £12.12), were also for sale at the same exhibition. Dundee Fine Art Exhibition Catalogue 1881, The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum. |
| Catalogue Entry |
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| Other Collections | As cited in Michael Justin Wentworth, James Tissot: Catalogue Raisonné of his Prints. Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1978:
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