Composition

A crouching nude tending a flowering plant, The Hunterian

The White Symphony: Three Girls, Freer Gallery of Art

This was originally thought to be a study for The White Symphony: Three Girls [YMSM 087] or The Three Girls [YMSM 088], but the technique suggests a much later date. The technique is a little unusual: one hand and leg were drawn in white, not in black at all.

A large butterfly is visible under the final one, suggesting a date of the late 1880s. It is possible that in this drawing, Whistler returned to an earlier study.

Technique

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1389).

Conservation History

The rough paper has small fibres, flecks of wood-stalk and a broad horizontal grain. It is a light brown with an orangey tone, a little darkened within the mount. There are both oil and paint stains, including a big spot of pink paint on her thigh. At left and bottom are roughly torn edges. There is a pinhole at top, so the paper must have been laid down at a later date.