Cicely Henrietta Alexander
Birthname: Alexander
Nationality: English
Date of birth: 1864
Place of birth: Reigate
Date of death: 1 March 1932
Category: collector, relative
Identity:
Cicely Henrietta Alexander was the daughter of the banker and collector W. C. Alexander and Rachel Agnes Lucas. She married Bernard Wilfred Charles Spring Rice (1869-1953) in 1906.
William Cleverly Alexander (1840-1916), a wealthy banker and patron of Whistler, and his wife Rachel Agnes Lucas (1837-1900) had a large family, including several daughters: Agnes Mary ('May') (1862–1950), Cicely Henrietta (1864–1932), Helen Christina (1866-1897), Grace (1867–1959), Emily Margaret (1872-1962), Emily Margaret (1872–1962), Rachel Frances (1875-1964) and Jean Ingslow (1878-1972), and two sons, William Geoffrey (1865–1911) and George Cleverley, born about 1869 (d. after 1937).
Life:
According to W. C. Alexander, he commissioned Whistler to paint his daughters in 1872 because he admired Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother y101. Whistler's mother, Anna Whistler, wrote to Cicely's mother on 26 August 1872 recommending a dress Whistler had designed for Cicely's portrait (Nocturne en bleu et argent y149, Design for a dress for Miss Cicely H. Alexander m0503, #07571). Cicely's mother made the dress according to Whistler's instructions.
Cicely posed twice a week for her portrait in Whistler's studio at 2 Lindsey Houses, Chelsea. The work required over seventy sittings before it was completed. Cicely was taking dancing lessons during the period she posed for Whistler.
Cicely later described her sittings to the Pennells: 'I'm afraid I rather considered that I was a victim all through the sittings, or rather standings, for he never let me change my position, and I believe I used to get very tired and cross and often finished the day in tears'. Whistler's painting perfectly conveys this sulkiness. At the Pall Mall Gallery in 1874, critics described it as 'a disagreeable presentment of a disagreeable young lady'.
Cicely also left an important description of Whistler's working method: 'he used to stand a good way from the canvas, and then dart at it, and then dart back, and he often turned round to look in a looking glass that hung over the mantlepiece at his back'.
Cicely's sisters Agnes Mary ('May') and Grace also posed for Whistler (see Miss May Alexander y127, Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander y130, Sketch for 'Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander' m0506). W. C. Alexander acquired a group of pen drawings which included portraits of Cicely (Design for a dress for Miss Cicely H. Alexander m0503), May (Study for 'Portrait of Miss May Alexander' m0498 and Study for 'Portrait of Miss May Alexander' m0499) and Grace (Sketch for 'Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander' m0506, Sketch for 'Portrait of Miss Grace Alexander' m0507).
Bibliography:
Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908 ; Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 ; MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 .
