Stephen Manuel
Date of birth: 1880
Date of death: 1954
Category: relative
Identity:
Stephen Manuel, a civil servant, was Whistler's nephew, the son of Miltiades Basil Manuel and Sophia Eustratius Ionides (1853-1905), the daughter of Eustratius Constantine Ionides (1817-1888) and [Hariclia Xeno] Chariclea Xenos (1827-1919), and the sister of Helen ('Nellie') Euphrosyne Whistler (1849-1917), née Ellen Ionides, the wife of Whistler's brother Dr William McNeill Whistler. Stephen married his cousin, Zoe Ionides.
Life:
In 1885, commissioned by his mother, Whistler painted Stephen Manuel's portrait, Arrangement in Grey: Portrait of Master Stephen Manuel y321. According to the artist Walter Sickert, Whistler did not work quickly enough for the child who became tired from posing. Sickert encouraged him to bring sittings to an end (GUW #05423). Sickert made an etched portrait of the boy at the same time. Whistler's portrait was first exhibited at the Society of British Artists' 1885-86 winter exhibition, where it was well-received (GUW #06706).
Stephen Manuel became the Chief of Section of the Raw Materials Department and Advisor on East Indian Tanned Hides and Skins. In 1892 he was invited to a private view of Whistler's exhibition, Nocturnes, Marines and Chevalet Pieces at the Goupil Gallery (GUW #08453). He was then living at 5 Aubrey Road.
Bibliography:
Butterworth, Dorothea, Ionides Family Tree, [privately published], 1936; Metaxas, K. H., 'The Ionides: a Greek family in Britain: family tree', The Greek Gazette, December 1995; Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 .
