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 his father, a businessman and collector. His children, Harris WHittemore, Jr., and Mrs. Charles S. Upson, succeeded as officers of the J. H. Whittemore Company.
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 J. H. Whittemore (#09801).
The Whittemore collection included works by Whistler, Mary Cassatt, Degas, Manet, Monet and Eugène Carrière.
Pasternak, Polly, 'Lunch with Monet', http://www.hogriver.org (accessed 2005); http://www.familysearch.org (accessed 2005); www.nga.gov/collection/gallery (accessed 2005)..