Walter Greaves

Original Walter Greaves drypoint.

Very rare working proof impression.

A very rich, heavily inked working proof of this highly Whistlerian portrait. This figure was originally designed wearing a wide dress, dark collar, a black cape, and a black pill-box hat. In this proof the hat has been removed and the lady’s hair introduced. The wide dress and dark cape are now gone and the subject is shown clothed in a slim black dress, the collar of which has been altered to white. The lady’s hand, not shown in the first version of this subject, has been introduced, white against her dress. Only the more heavily gouged lines of the earlier version of the composition remain, just visible, as evidence of Greaves’s alterations.

Working proofs of this nature are extremely scarce.

On deep cream laid paper with uneven margins just beyond platemark on all sides. One diagonal crease across lower left corner of subject and some surface marks. Generally good condition for a studio working proof of this nature.