Bibi Valentin

1859

Not on view

This image of a young girl seated on a bed, wearing a long dress and high buttoned boots, comes from a series of portraits that Whistler made in 1859. The subject, whose pet name was Bibi, was a daughter of the Valentin family. Her mother later wrote to the artist to remind him that they lived on Rue des Sts. Pères in Paris when the etching was made. Of the three examples in the Museum's collection (the others are 17.3.43 and 17.21.69), the drypoint lines in this impression retain more burr, with the plate sensitively wiped.

Artwork Details

Title: Bibi Valentin
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
Date: 1859
Medium: Etching and drypoint, printed in black ink on medium weight dark ivory Japan; second state of two, from the damaged plate (Glasgow)
Dimensions: Plate: 6 x 8 15/16 in. (15.2 x 22.7 cm)
Sheet: 9 1/2 × 13 1/16 in. (24.2 × 33.2 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of William Loring Andrews, 1883, transferred from the Library
Object Number: 83.1.19
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By James McNeill Whistler

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The artist's butterfly in an enlarged version with a forked tail

James McNeill Whistler

19th century

Reading, James McNeill Whistler American, Lithograph with scraping; printed in black ink on grayish chine mounted on ivory wove paper; fourth state of four (Chicago) — Reading
James McNeill Whistler
1879

Windsor (Memorial), James McNeill Whistler American, Drypoint; third state of four (Glasgow); printed in dark brown ink on ivory laid paper — Windsor (Memorial)
James McNeill Whistler
1887

Early Morning, James McNeill Whistler American, Lithotint with scraping, on a prepared half-tint ground, printed in black ink on cream wove paper; third state of four (Chicago) — Early Morning
James McNeill Whistler
1878

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