Technique

Symphonie en argent et émeraude, Private Collection

The canvas corresponds to the French 'toile de vingt' and was almost certainly acquired in France. It is possible that the stretcher, dated 1865, could have once belonged to another picture painted in that year.

The canvas is close in size to Whistler's Sea and Rain [YMSM 065] and Blue and Silver: Trouville [YMSM 066], both of which were painted at Trouville in 1865, and these canvases were probably acquired by Whistler in France, as indeed were many paintings by other artists.

The breaking waves are extremely thickly impasted, more so than in any other work by Whistler, and have been worked with a palette knife.

Conservation History

Unknown.

Frame

Unknown.