John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné
An online catalogue by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Greenwich Historical Society
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Catalogue Entry

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Keywords
E.200
Woman on the Quay
Alternate title: Quai at Honfleur
ca. 1880–85
Etching on paper
4 1/8 x 5 1/4 in. (10.5 x 13.3 cm)
Signed in plate, lower left: J.H.T. [Signed below plate, lower left, by the artist's son Alden: JHT per AT]
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., Museum purchase (1976.107.2)
Provenance
Literature
Wickenden 1921
Wickenden, R[obert] J. The Art and Etchings of John Henry Twachtman. New York: Frederick Keppel, 1921, pp. 15 ill. in b/w, 29, 47, as Quai at Honfleur.
New York Times 1921–III
"The World of Art: Etchings of John Henry Twachtman." New York Times, November 13, 1921, p. BRM5 ill. in b/w, as Quai at Honfleur.
Baskett 1999
Baskett, Mary Welsh. John Henry Twachtman: American Impressionist Painter as Printmaker—A Catalogue Raisonné of His Prints. Bronxville, N.Y.: M. Hausberg, 1999, pp. 33, 74–75, ill. in b/w, as Woman on the Quay. (Baskett concordance).
Commentary

Mary Baskett writes that the composition in this etching—depicting a woman coming forward on a quay at the left, with sailing boats and their rigging at the right—relates to two Venetian scenes Twachtman rendered in 1878: Campo Santa Marta (OP.211) and Venetian Sailing Vessel (OP.205). However, the work could not have created by the artist on the spot in Venice during his trip at that time because he did not begin to explore etching until after his return to Cincinnati in 1879. Perhaps he based it loosely on Campo Santa Marta, focusing on the pier and female figure. Another comparison can be made between this image and Venetian Scene (OP.652), which is likely to be a work Twachtman rendered when he concluded his honeymoon in Venice at the end of the year in 1881. 

In Ryerson 1920 the work is listed as On the Quay, Dordrecht; in Wickenden 1921 and Baskett 1966 it is titled Quai at Honfleur. Although the work is probably an image of Venice, there is insufficient detail in in it to identify its site precisely. 

The impression in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, illustrated here, is a lifetime, State II, print. 

Lifetime states (from Baskett 1999)

I. Before initials "J.H.T." at lower left. 

II. With faint "J.H.T." at lower left.  

Selected Literature

From Wickenden 1921

[This etching is] firmly drawn and deeply bitten, the receding parapet of the quay almost divides the foreground into two equal parts On the land side a woman with a basket on her arm is coming toward us, while on the right are the waters of the harbour. A fish boat with raised sail, partly masks a group of similar craft, beyond which masts of crowded shipping rise against the sky [p. 29].