Titles

Only one possible alternative has been suggested:

• 'Sea and Rain' (1867, Royal Academy of Arts). 1
• Possibly 'Harmonie en bleu et argent' (1883, Petit). 2
• 'Seascape' and 'Sea and Rain' (1905, ISSPG). 3
• 'Sea and Rain' (1980, YMSM). 4

On 26 April 1895 Whistler wrote to David Croal Thomson (1855-1930), 'the marine picture is not "Courbet on the shore." ... The present little sea piece used to be called as well as I remember: "Sea and Rain".' 5

'Sea and Rain' is the original and preferred title.

Description

Sea and Rain, Museum of Art, University of Michigan

A beach scene in horizontal format. A man stands at left on the still damp sands. Waves break far out on the beach. The sea is a pale blue/grey, under an even paler blue and grey sky.

The description by George Moore (1852-1933) of the colour, written in 1895, is not entirely consistent with the painting's present appearance:

'A pale grey is the sky, with snatches of blue showing through, and the sea is a pale brown with waves far away faintly and sadly curling. A little blue figure stands between the sand and the sea ... of the most exquisite blue imaginable, lighting up the entire picture.' 6

Site

Trouville, a town, port, and popular tourist destination on the coast of France. Whistler wrote from the Hotel du Bras d'Or, Trouville, to Lucas Ionides, 'This is a charming place - although now the season is quite over and every one has left - but the effects of sea and sky are finer than during the milder weather.' 7

Sitter

Unknown. According to Whistler 'the marine picture is not "Courbet on the shore." ' 8

Sea and Rain, Museum of Art, University of Michigan

Harmony in Blue and Silver: Trouville, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Jean-Désiré-Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) was with Whistler at Trouville and is the figure in Harmony in Blue and Silver: Trouville [YMSM 064], but not, apparently, in Sea and Rain.