Titles

Variations on the title are as follows:

• 'Impressions de gris perle' (1891, Saint-Charles). 1
• 'Impressions de gris perle: Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac' (1980, YMSM). 2

The preferred title is 'Impressions de gris perle: Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac'.

Description

According to the sitter, it showed him 'en grand manteau gris, au col relevé, avec, au cou, un rien d'une cravate d'une nuance, d'une nuance ... qu'il ne dit pas, mais dont son oeil exprime la couleur idéale.' 3 That is, in a grey cloak with collar turned up, and a cravat of the most subtle colour.

Sitter

Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac, photograph, GUL Whistler PH1/21

Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac (1855-1921). He was introduced to Whistler by Henry James (1843-1916) in 1885. 4

Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac, photograph, GUL Whistler PH1/22

Poet, writer, collector and patron, encouraging and supporting artists like Helleu and Moreau, Montesquiou was a model for Baron de Charlus in A la recherche du temps perdu by Antonin Proust (1832-1905) and for Des Esseintes in A Rebours by Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848-1907). He greatly admired Whistler and introduced him into fashionable Parisian society. According to Goncourt, Montesquiou intended to write a study of Whistler. 5 A chapter on Whistler published in his posthumous memoirs perhaps reflects this intention. 6