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

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YMSM 422
The Violinist

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1890/1894
Collection: Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
Accession Number: 1942.1133
Medium: oil
Support: canvas
Size: 79 x 53.3 cm (31 1/16 x 20 15/16")
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: none
Frame: Grau-style, American, 1910s
print

The Violinist

Technique

The Violinist, Cleveland Museum of Art
The Violinist, Cleveland Museum of Art

According to Museum conservation reports the canvas, of coarse weave, was prepared with a grey water-based ground, and on top of that a red layer.

Conservation History

The Violinist, photograph, 1905?, GUL WPP
The Violinist, photograph, 1905?, GUL WPP
The Violinist, photograph, n.d.
The Violinist, photograph, n.d.
The Violinist, Cleveland Museum of Art
The Violinist, Cleveland Museum of Art

It is possible that the painting has darkened, but these earlier photographs may exaggerate any changes, due to the lighting or the length of the exposure.

Frame

The Violinist, frame
The Violinist, frame
The Violinist, frame, verso
The Violinist, frame, verso

It is in a Grau-style frame of American manufacture dating from the 1910s. 1

Notes:

1: Dr S. L. Parkerson Day, Report on frames, 2017; see also Parkerson 2007 [more].

Last updated: 16th October 2020 by Margaret