Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

• 'Arrangement in Grey & Green' (1893, Whistler). 1
• 'A Gentleman in Grey' (1899, Whistler). 2
• 'Arrangement in Grey and Green: Portrait of J. J. Cowan' (1980, YMSM). 3
• 'An Arrangement in Grey and Green. Portrait of John James Cowan (1846 - 1936)' (2015, NGS). 4

For consistency the 1980 title, 'Arrangement in Grey and Green: Portrait of J. J. Cowan', has been retained as the preferred title.

Description

Arrangement in Grey and Green: Portrait of J. J. Cowan, National Gallery of Scotland

A small full-length portrait in vertical format. It shows a middle-aged man in grey suit with knickerbockers and knee-length black socks, a grey hat held in his right hand. He is standing in three-quarter view to right, against a dark background.

Sitter

John James Cowan (1846-1936) of Edinburgh, a paper-manufacturer, began collecting about 1880 and became friendly with a number of Scottish painters. The bulk of his collection of modern British and Continental pictures was sold in 1926.

John Lavery had painted a portrait of Cowan's wife Sophia ('Sophie') Margaret Cowan (b. 1848/1850, m.1869) and their daughter Laura.

In 1900 Cowan commissioned the American John White Alexander (1856-1915) to paint his four daughters, and a portrait of himself, because by then he was sure Whistler would never let him have the portrait. He gave Alexander three sittings of one and a half hours. 5 The Scottish artist James Patterson (1854-1932) made a portrait drawing of Cowan in 1910, and a photograph of this by Patterson is in Glasgow University Library. 6

Cowan's collection of Whistler's works included At the Piano [YMSM 024], The Thames in Ice [YMSM 036], Variations in Pink and Grey: Chelsea [YMSM 105], Nocturne: Grey and Gold - Chelsea Snow [YMSM 174], Nocturne: Black and Gold - Rag Shop, Chelsea [YMSM 204], Nocturne: Blue and Gold - St Mark's, Venice [YMSM 213], The Angry Sea [YMSM 282], White and Grey: La Cour de l'hôtel, Dieppe [YMSM 325], Chelsea Shop [YMSM 374], Alice Butt (2) [YMSM 438], The Little Nurse: Lyme Regis [YMSM 443], Brown and Gold: The Curé's Little Class [YMSM 455], Brown and Gold: Lillie 'In our Alley!' [YMSM 464], and Study of a Girl's Head [YMSM 487].