Tower on the Rhine, Near Constance by James David Smillie

Tower on the Rhine, Near Constance by James David Smillie

Tower on the Rhine, Near Constance

James David Smillie

Title

Tower on the Rhine, Near Constance

 
Artist
Year
1905 /printed 1911 (posthumous) 
Technique
aquatint with mezzotint 
Image Size
6 7/8 x 4 7/8"  
Signature
monogrammed in the plate, lower left 
Edition Size
 
Annotations
dated 1905 in the plate after signature; pencil, lower left margin; "Robert Hulse Imp. March 1911" 
Reference
JDS103; W103 
Paper
ivory simile vellum 
State
ii/ii 
Publisher
 
Inventory ID
BC112 
Price
SOLD
Description
Smillie began this print in 1894, working from one of four watercolors he had painted that year for a projected series of towers, this being the Rhine Gate Tower in Konstanz, Germany. This would be his first time using a combination of soft-ground etching and aquatint, and he documented his steps in detail. However, while the reference watercolor, "Tower at Constance - Rhine - Entrance," was exhibited in 1895 with the American Watercolor Society, he ended up setting aside the aquatint for nine years. In 1905 he finally reworked the plate, but never completed an edition due to his failing health. After his death in 1909, the work of printing the completed plate was taken up by Robert Hulse in 1911 (signature along lower left sheet edge). It stands as a superb example of Smillie's sensitive, sure-handed approach to the plate, acheiving a complex tonality within a small matrix.

The Rhine Gate Tower was built in the mid-16th century in an attempt to protect the city of Konstanz from invading Spanish troops. It failed, and the Spanish took the city. Today it remains a part of the city and acts as abn observation deck with views of the Rhine and Lake Constance.