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

 

M.0843
Sketch of 'Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander'

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1881
Collection: Private Collection
Accession Number: none
Medium: pen and dark brown ink
Support: off-white laid paper, printed heading 'HOGARTH CLUB, / 27, ALBEMARLE STREET. / W.'
Size: 8 15/16 x 7 1/16" (227 x 181 mm)
Signature: none
Inscription: none

Sketch of 'Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander'

Provenance

  • 1880s: given to Charles Bullen Waller (1842-1903) ;
  • In or by 1903: passed to his daughter, Edith Emma Marzetti (1865-1924) ;
  • 1924: passed by family descent to a private collector;
  • 1990: sold to Abbott and Holder, London art dealers;
  • 1990: bought by a private collector.

On 4 November 1906 Mrs Marzetti wrote to her uncle, Pickford Robert Waller (1849-1930), that she treasured 'a little pen & ink sketch of his portrait of Miss Alexander, which he made for Mr. Ridley one night at the Hogarth Club & signed with the butterfly.' 1 But although he may have made it 'for' Matthew White Ridley (1837-1888), it was not, apparently, given to him.

Exhibitions

Not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Notes:

1: Letter in Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Last updated: 9th June 2021 by Margaret