Technique

Portrait of Luke A. Ionides, private collection

Luke Ionides described Whistler's method of painting:

'He would compose his colour on the palette, and put on some touch; then he would stand off, and re-compose his colour. It was almost like working in mosaic. He never, to my knowledge, made any studies of the sitter before beginning a portrait.' 1

It is painted thickly, with vigorous brushwork and with some areas of impasto, the paint applied with a palette knife as well as brush, showing, as Andrew McLaren Young (1913-1975) commented, that Jean-Désiré-Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) 'was still a dominant influence.' 2

Conservation History

Meier-Graefe wrote of it in 1908 as having 'cracked as a result of loading the dark pigment on an ill-prepared ground.' 3 Similarly the Times in 1911 described it as 'an early work of great beauty and interest, but already falling into ruin.' 4 It has, however, since been restored.

Frame

Unknown.