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Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, south wall, Freer Gallery of Art

The final painting was originally erected in the house of Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892) at 49 Princes Gate. It was re-erected in Freer's house in Detroit, and finally in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC.

Comments

The immediate inspiration for Whistler's Peacock designs was probably Japanese art. The bird on the left resembles a piece of Satsuma faience illustrated by George Ashdowne Audsley and James Lord Bowes, in The Keramic Art of Japan in 1875 (Plate 12). Spencer points out a comparison between both the composition of this cartoon, and the predominating scale patterns of the Peacock room, and illustrations in the same book. J. L. Bowes was Japanese Consul and Whistler could have seen his collection on a visit to F. R. Leyland's house near Liverpool.