Composition

Sketch for hallway of 49 Princes Gate, The Hunterian

There are two related pencil drawings Sketch for hallway of 49 Princes Gate [M.0577] and Designs for staircase for 49 Princes Gate [M.0578]. The latter gives a very cursory indication of the curving convolvulus design.

Curry described Whistler as 'a traditional minded muralist painting realistic distances glimpsed through architectural elements that act as "windows" '. 1

Technique

The flowers are painted thinly, but freely, and indeed quite crudely. They may be partly by another hand or have been restored by another hand.

Conservation History

The panels were removed from 49 Princes Gate in 1904, and most were sent to C. L. Freer's house in Detroit, and later moved to the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington DC. It is not known what treatment was received by the panels before they were given to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Frame

The semi-asymmetrical painted area is slightly raised, and enclosed withing four-sided wood battens. They are not, now, framed.