John Howard Whittemore
Date of birth: 1837
Place of birth: Waterbury, CT
Date of death: 1910
Category: collector
Identity:
John Howard Whittemore was a partner of A. A. Pope in the National Malleable Castings Company in Cleveland, Ohio. He married Julia A. Spencer (1839-1863). Their son, Arthur Harris Whittemore, was, like John, a businessman and collector. Their daughter, Gertrude B. Whittemore (d. 1941), inherited a life interest in their most important painting, Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl y038.
Life:
J. H. Whittemore's son Harris visited Whistler in Paris in 1895, and bought Mother of Pearl and Silver: The Andalusian y378 from him, according to Whistler (#09732). However, it is not entirely clear if he received the painting then, since several years later, the dealer E. G. Kennedy noted that he had bought it and sold it immediately to Harris's father, J. H. Whittemore (#09801). The Whittemore collection also included works by Mary Cassatt, Degas, Manet, Monet and Eugène Carrière.
J. H. Whittemore owned an impression of Whistler's etching Bébés, Jardin du Luxembourg [463] (K4280101).
Bibliography:
Pasternak, Polly, 'Lunch with Monet', http://www.hogriver.org (accessed 2005); http://www.familysearch.org (accessed 2005); www.nga.gov/collection/gallery (accessed 2005).
