Signed: W Greaves within the image lower left (on the weatherboard planks of the buildings).

Etching with drypoint (Artist's proof.), 26.2 cm x 55.5 cm (image plate)

Provenance:-"The Misses Dagnall, 48 Redcliffe Gardens, SW10" according to old labels verso.

Literature:-Raymond Lister, Great Images of British Printmaking,, London, Robin Garton Ltd, 1978; Tom Pocock, "Chelsea Reach: The Brutal Friendship of Whistler and Walter Greaves, Hodder & Stoughton. London. 1970. [Illustrated on the dust jacket (the oil painting)].

The scene, full of vivid incident and a characterful multitude of figures, is a depiction of the last traditional rowing regatta which took place in Chelsea in the summer of 1871. If the viewer follows the line of the Thames towards the horizon, the partly completed Albert Bridge (opened in 1873) can be identified spanning the river before Chelsea Bridge is reached (still known as Victoria Bridge at this stage). Bailey's Magazine of 1890 discusses how "Chelsea Regatta always attracted a numerous company, and under the old elms that grew on each side of Cheyne Walk, fun and sport of all kinds would be carried on."[1] The regatta used to be one of the highlights of the year in the Chelsea of old; Walter Greaves described how "what with guns firing, flags flying, bands playing and the immense crowd of people, Chelsea was pretty lively on the occasion of its annual Regatta. The 'Adam & Eve', the headquarters of the sports, was crammed with people, and one wondered how it stood the strain of such a weight being a very old building... This regatta, like the other river races made a remarkably artistic display of colour especially as it took place on a fine summer’s day, with blue skies and white clouds."[2] Greaves made several works relating to this event: an oil, now in the collection of Manchester City Art Gallery[3]; a watercolour of the same view, but without the crowd and a hand-coloured version of this etching.[4[.

Notes:-

[1] See p.228 "Bailey's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes", Volume 53, 1890

[2] Quoted from p.385, The Architect, Volume 107, 1922 and ‎p.89, Tom Pocock, "Chelsea Reach", 1970

[3] See Manchester Art Gallery 1922.8

[4] Exhibited with The Fine Art Society, London, 2010 as "Chelsea Reach".[5] Royal Academy, 1872, Cat. No. 129