Millie Finch

Identity:

Milly Finch seems to have modelled for Whistler when Maud Franklin was ill.

'Milly' or 'Millie' could be short for Amelia or Millicent. A 'Millicent J. Finch', aged 32, born in Islington and listed as visiting in Edmonton, Midlesex, was listed in the 1901 census. She would have been fifteen in 1884, and is a possible candidate, since Whistler showed a certain preference for young models.

Life:

Milly Finch has not been identified. Whistler called her 'the Red Girl'.Whistler to C.W. Dowdeswell, [1/14 May 1884] GUW #08653.

He definitely painted three oil portraits of Milly in the mid-1880s (Harmony in Coral and Blue: Miss Finch y237, Harmony in Fawn Colour and Purple: Portrait of Miss Milly Finch y238 and Harmony in Blue and Violet: Miss Finch y239, and several watercolours including r.: A Note in Green; v.: Maud in bed m0905, Harmony in violet and amber m0906, Milly Finch m0907Arrangement in black and gold m0932, and Note in pink and purple m0935.

In 1892 Whistler listed among the full-length portraits in his studio: 'Milly. Finch - Red - /.../ Millie Finch - Violet - / Blue. Girl - / Millie Finch Black -' Whistler to D.C. Thomson, [4/11 January 1892], GUW #06795. Although the 'Blue Girl' was not here identified as Milly Finch, it is possible, given the similarity in dress and colour to other 'Blue Girls, that she posed for it.

The Hunterian website says that 'Miss Milly Finch was a professional model who posed for Whistler during the 1880s'.Hunterian website.

Duret reproduces a watercolour owned by Otto Gutekunst, as 'Nelly Finch', but he was probably mistaken. Duret, Théodore, Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et de son oeuvre, 2nd edition, Paris, 1914 , watercolour repr. f.p. 100 as 'Nelly Finch'.