Identity:

Charles Sprague Pearce was a genre, figure and portrait painter.

Life:

Pearce exhibited between 1882 and 1884 at Arthur Tooth and Sons Gallery and the Society of British Artists, a society which elected Whistler its President in 1886. In July 1894 Pearce, who was on the jury for the International Exposition in Antwerp, was in correspondence with Whistler, having proposed Whistler for a medal of honour for his contributions to the exhibition which included Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl y052, Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder y203 and Arrangement in Black: Portrait of Señor Pablo de Sarasate y315, and possibly Crepuscule in Flesh Colour and Green: Valparaiso y073, Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Battersea Reach y152 and Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel y169. However, the medal was not awarded because Whistler's works were executed before 1885, the date of the last International Exposition in Antwerp (#00192).

Bibliography:

Bénézit, E., Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, 8 vols, 1956-61; Johnson, J., and A. Gruetzner, The Dictionary of British Artists 1880-1940, Woodbridge, 1880; Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 .