Technique

The slatted shutters and the bird cages, drawn with wiry pen lines, were not painted. The surface was freely covered with washes painted with a fully loaded brush. Some of the washes dried to a hard edge. There are signs of alterations in the door, where a double line of pen runs from the left to the middle of the door, just under the cage, and below, rough chalk outlines indicate that Whistler intended to add further details, which cannot be identified.

Conservation History

The paper is a pale greyish brown with a neat vertical grain, and tiny golden flecks of wood-stalk.