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

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Mount Ararat

Titles

Variations on a title have been suggested:

  • ' "an arrangement in Rats" - the ark resting on Mount Ararat' (1879, A. S. Cole). 1
  • 'the Ararat' (1880, Whistler). 2
  • 'Mount Ararat' (1980, YMSM). 3

'Mount Ararat' is the preferred title.

Description

It was described by the Pennells as the second of three satirical pictures of Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892), showing 'a Noah's ark stranded on a hill, with little figures approaching it, or perched on the roof, all in the obnoxious frills.' 4

Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913) stated that The Loves of the Lobsters [YMSM 209] and Mount Ararat [YMSM 210] were smaller than The Gold Scab [YMSM 208]. 5 The Gold Scab measures 186.7 x 139.7 cm (73 1/2 x 55").

Sitter

The subject is Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892).

Notes:

1: Diary, 25 May 1879, mss copy, GUW #13132.

2: Whistler to H. E. Whistler, 22 March 1880, GUW #06688.

3: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 210).

4: Pennell 1908 [more], vol. 1, pp. 256-59.

5: Way 1912 [more], pp. 34-35.

Last updated: 10th November 2019 by Margaret