Detail from The Canal, Amsterdam, 1889, James McNeill Whistler, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

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YMSM 082
Venus

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1868
Collection: Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Accession Number: F1903.175a-b
Medium: oil
Support: millboard
Size: 61.9 x 45.6 cm (24 3/8 x 18")
Signature: two butterflies (1902)
Inscription: none
Frame: Grau-style, American, 1903 [17.8 cm]
print

Venus

Titles

Only one title has been suggested:

  • 'Venus' (1876, New York Herald). 1
  • 'Venus' (1886, M. C. Salaman). 2
  • 'The Six Schemes' (1904, Copley Society, Boston). 3
  • 'Les Six Projets. No. 2. Venus' (1905, Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Paris). 4
  • 'Venus' (1980, YMSM). 5

Description

Venus, Freer Gallery of Art
Venus, Freer Gallery of Art

A figure composition in vertical format. A nude woman stands on the shore, with pale peach coloured draperies over her arms, billowing behind her, above and to left. A pale blue sea is seen in the distance.

Sitter

Unidentified.

Comments

For further paintings of Venus see Venus Rising from the Sea [YMSM 093] and Venus [YMSM 548].

Notes:

1: 'American Artists in London, What they have done for Philadelphia', New York Herald, New York, 10 April 1876, p. 5.

2: Salaman 1886 B [more].

3: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. nos. 19-24).

4: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 12).

5: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 82).

Last updated: 2nd November 2020 by Margaret