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

 

Portrait of Miss Marion Peck

Provenance

  • 1895: commissioned by the sitter's mother, Annah B. Peck (b. ca 1850) (Mrs Harold Stanton Peck) of Chicago, for $2000 (£400) in March 1895; 1
  • 1900: Whistler returned the money to the sitter's husband, William Richman Farquhar (1860-1952); 2
  • 1903: the portrait appears to have been in Whistler's studio until his death.

One anecdote, almost certainly apocryphal, states that Whistler refused to send 'my masterpiece … to such a place as Chicago? Never!' 3

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Notes:

1: L. C. Kellogg to Whistler, 12 March [1895], GUW #02424.

2: Whistler to Farquhar, 7 June 1900, GUW #01620. Farquhar to Whistler, 14 June [1900], GUW #01093. Farquhar to Whistler, [8, 15 or 22 July 1900], GUW #01095.

3: Hadley, Frank A., 'Whistler, the man, as told in anecdote', Brush and Pencil, Chicago, August 1903, vol. 12, pp. 334-59, at p. 342.

Last updated: 3rd January 2021 by Margaret