Titles

Only one basic title is known:

• 'Arrangement in Grey: Portrait of Master Stephen Manuel' (1885, Society of British Artists). 1
• 'Portrait little Manuel' (1892, Whistler). 2
• 'Portrait of Master Stephen Manuel'' and, in deluxe edition, 'Arrangement in Grey, Portrait of Master Stephen Manuel' (1905, ISSPG). 3
• 'Arrangement in Grey: Portrait of Master Stephen Manuel' (1980, YMSM). 4

'Arrangement in Grey: Portrait of Master Stephen Manuel' is the preferred title.

Description

Arrangement in Grey: Portrait of Master Stephen Manuel, Freer Gallery of Art

A head and shoulders portrait of a young boy, in vertical format. He faces the viewer, wearing a grey suit with a broad white collar, and a big round hat with a pale grey feather. He has brown curly hair. The background is a warm greyish beige.

Sitter

Stephen Manuel (1880-1954), CBE, became Chief of Section of Raw Materials Department and Adviser on East Indian Tanned Hides and Skins. His mother, Sophia (Eustratius) Ionides (Mrs M. B. Manuel) (1853-1905), was the sister of Whistler's sister-in-law, Helen ('Nellie') Euphrosyne Whistler (1849-1917) (née Ionides). Stephen Manuel later married one of his cousins, Zoe Ionides (1877-1973).

W. R. Sickert, Portrait of Stephen Manuel, etching, Freer Gallery of Art, FSC-GR-703

One of Sickert's first etchings, Portrait of Stephen Manuel, was done at the time Whistler was painting Stephen's portrait: it is 6.3 x 6.2 cm, very much smaller than the painting. 5