Mother and child probably dates from between 1891 and 1893. It is closely related to several lithographs, including Mother and Child, No. 1 c051, which is thought to date from 1891, and was transferred to stone and printed in 1895. 1

Mother and child, The Hunterian

Dating of this drawing relies both on the medium, technique and paper, and on the identity of the models. By April 1891 Rose Amy Pettigrew (1872-1958) was posing for Whistler, sometimes with a sister and/or baby niece. In May 1892 Whistler described a pastel of a similar subject, Mother and Child [M.1285], as a 'figure with child on her knee' and in April of the following year, described another as 'girl seated with baby on her knee.' 2 Thus drawings involving a young woman and baby may have been drawn from 1891 on, and were certainly on the market in 1892-1893.

It was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1294) where it was dated '1890/1895'.