Technique

Nocturne in Blue and Silver, Yale Center for British Art

It is very thinly painted. The clock tower was originally a little higher. The colours are richly dark. The smooth, partly rubbed down surface and blurring of outlines is extremely effective.

Marc Simpson discusses the development of Whistler's technique when painting these Nocturnes, from the skilful, flowing, and very visible brushstrokes of, for instance, Nocturne in Blue and Silver [YMSM 113], to the soft, smooth, blurred paint surfaces 'like breath on glass' in the Nocturne in Blue and Silver here discussed. 1 In addition, Joyce Hill Stoner discusses Whistler's preference for absorbent grounds at this period, citing this painting: 'Absorbent grounds enhance penetration of the oil paint films into the grounds, increase overall mattness, and thereby emphasize the low-relief surfaces of prominent canvas weave.' 2

Conservation History

Nocturne in Blue and Silver, silver gelatin print, 1895/1905, GUL Whistler PH4/17

Nocturne in Blue and Silver, photograph, 1980

Unknown. Earlier photographs suggest it may have darkened slightly but it looks in very good condition.

Frame

It is possibly the painting framed in 1878 (probably for the Grosvenor Gallery exhibition) by Henry John Murcott (1835-1910), picture framer, carver and gilder. Whistler sent Murcott detailed instructions on 4 February 1878:

'I want you to make me at once another frame like the last two -

also a stretcher - The stretcher to measure 2. ft ½ inch or 24½ inches by 1." 5½ inches or 17½ in

The frame will be made to fit the stretcher - So that the sight measurement would be about twenty four inches and by seventeen inches - Please remember this time that second moulding you missed before - also let the inside flats be of the same oak as the rest of the frame - (and not stucco preparation) also let there be a glass - and have the pale green gold - and especially let me have the frame stretcher here at once.' 3

Nocturne in Blue and Silver, framed, 2016

Nocturne in Blue and Silver, verso of frame

The Grau-style frame now on the painting, shown above, dates from much later. It might possibly have been added by Goupil's in 1898. The museum gives the measurements as 69.2 x 84.8 x 6.7 cm (27 1/4 x 33 3/8 x 2 5/8").