Print of a man steering a punt boat along a waterway.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

In this image, a man, standing in the bottom right of the plate, steers a flat-bottomed punt boat down a waterway. He holds a long oar in both hands, and looks beyond the image area while smoking a pipe. The positioning of his hands and the weight of his stance indicates that he is in mid-row. The waterway curves up and to the right behind him. On the other side are tall trees, hills, and some houses clustered together on the left.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
M12115
People
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, American (Lowell, MA 1834 - 1903 London, England)
Title
The Punt
Classification
Prints
Work Type
print
Date
1861
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/262877

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Etching and drypoint printed in black ink on off-white wove paper
Technique
Etching
Dimensions
plate: 11.2 × 15.1 cm (4 7/16 × 5 15/16 in.)
sheet: 27 × 36.7 cm (10 5/8 × 14 7/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: in plate: Whistler
  • collector's mark: verso, brown stamp with accession number written in graphite:
    THE WILLIAM HAYES FOGG / ART MUSEUM OF / HARVARD UNIVERSITY / 12,225 [Lugt 936]
  • inscription: lower edge, at right corner, engraved in same script as the publisher: J. Whistler
  • inscription: bottom of plate, centered, engraved: publisher: London. Published December 1st. 1861, by Day & Son, Lith. to the Queen.
  • inscription: in plate, lower left, etched: Whistler
  • inscription: lower right corner of sheet, graphite: 8 [on its side and underlined] / am - 201
  • inscription: lower left corner of sheet, graphite: oU E1582
  • inscription: lower sheet margin, below plate line, graphite:
    W.68 / K 85 III Whistler [underlined] / 1861 / The Punt -

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Edwin de T. Bechtel, (347a), Collector, Gift to Fogg Art Museum, 1947.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

State
Glasgow iv/vi
Standard Reference Number
Kennedy 85; Glasgow 82

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Edwin de T. Bechtel
Accession Year
1947
Object Number
M12115
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu