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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Keywords
E.706
Four Boats
Alternate titles: Four Boats on the Canal, near Dordrecht; Near Dordrecht
ca. 1883–85
Etching and drypoint on paper
4 1/8 x 4 15/16 in. (10.5 x 12.5 cm)
[Signed below plate, lower right, by the artist's son Alden: JHT per AT]
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, Gift of Mrs. Hersey Egginton in memory of her son, Everett, Class of 1921 (PR.954.20.556)
Provenance
Literature
Wickenden 1921
Wickenden, R[obert] J. The Art and Etchings of John Henry Twachtman. New York: Frederick Keppel, 1921, pp. 28, 47, as Near Dordrecht.
Baskett 1966
Baskett, Mary Welsh. "Prints." In John Henry Twachtman: A Retrospective Exhibition, by Richard J. Boyle, Mary Welsh Baskett, and Philip R. Adams. Cincinnati: Cincinnati Art Museum, 1966. Exhibition catalogue (1966 Cincinnati Art Museum), pp. 32, 37 ill. in b/w, as Four Boats on the Canal, near Dordrecht.
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. 86–87, ill. in b/w, as Four Boats. (Baskett concordance).
Commentary

In her entry on this work, Baskett states that this is "one of Twachtman's most impressionistic etchings. The empty areas of sky and sea are broken by the sketchy rendering of an embankment to the right, two sailboats in the middle ground, and a rowboat and a barge to the left."  She notes: "As is typical of many Twachtman plates, the etching ground was scratched or abraded before the plate was bittten so there are quite a few dots of false biting in addition to the lines of the composition." In the work, Twachtman made use of drypoint, creating a more ragged line than in other etchings. The detail in the scene is more implied than explicit, allowing the viewer to find and complete the boats in relation to the waterway.  

This etching has had a few titles. It is On the Canal, Holland, in Ryerson 1920; Near Dordrecht in Wickenden 1921; and Four Boats on the Canal, Near Dordrecht in 1966 Cincinnati. However, the image belongs to Twachtman's French period because it depicts the same subject in reverse as View of the Seine, Neuilly (OP.707). The light, Impressionst quality of the drypoint line has obscured the connection between the two works, and to be sure, there are differences between them. However, they clearly depict the same site along a river or canal, where several boats are anchored. Twachtman even included a triangular shape in the right distance in the etching that probably represents the mountain peak in the painting. The painting's title is not original and the site is probably not Neuilly. Thus, the locale depicted has yet to be identified. It may be at or near the same location featured in the painting and etching known as Mouth of the Seine (OP.705 and E.701), but that site is also unclear. In Four Boats, the well-realized depth and cross-axial design are also charcteristic of Twachtman's French period.

Given the reversal of the image in the etching, Twachtman may have created the etching and painting at the same time, working both on his etching plate and in oil on panel.  This is implied in the differences in the two works—in the etching a boat seen from the stern end on the water is not included in the painting. 

The impression in the Hood Museum of Art, illustrated here, is a posthumous etching. It was among nineteen etchings reprinted for the 1921 exhibition at Frederick Keppel and Company, New York. According to Baskett, the printer was probably Peter Platt, a professional printer who produced etchings for Childe Hassam and John Sloan. 

Selected Literature

From Wickenden 1921

The somewhat fragmentary drypoint, Near Dordrecht, again is interesting as a suggestive impression. The composition of the boats is excellent, in exact perspective, the qualities of air, light, land, and water rendered by these few scratches of copper, make one ask how so much was done with so little [p. 28].