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

 

YMSM 023
Portrait of Whistler with Hat

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1858
Collection: Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Accession Number: F1906.57a-b
Medium: oil
Support: canvas
Size: 46.3 x 38.1 cm (18 1/4 x 15")
Signature: 'Whistler.'
Inscription: none

Portrait of Whistler with Hat

Portrait of Whistler with Hat probably dates from 1858.

Portrait of Whistler with Hat, Freer Gallery of Art
Portrait of Whistler with Hat, Freer Gallery of Art

In 1904, Théodore Duret (1838-1927) stated that it was painted in a studio in the Rue Campagne-Première in 1857/1858, but he later changed this to 1857/1859. 1 According to George Aloysius Lucas (1824-1909), Whistler moved to 3 rue Campagne-Première in June 1858. 2 This address, and the technique (which resembles, for instance, that of La Mère Gérard (1) [YMSM 026]), reinforce a date of 1858.

The portrait was given by Whistler to his friend, the artist Ernest Delannoy (d. 1869/1872), in Paris, possibly in August 1859, and certainly before 1865. 3

Notes:

1: Duret 1904 [more] , p. 15; Duret 1914 [more] , p. 10.

2: 18 May 1858, Diary, Lucas Collection, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore; quoted by Randall 1979 [more] , vol. 2, pp. 77, 365, 369, 372-76.

3: H. Fantin-Latour to Whistler, 5 August 1859, GUW #01074; [August 1872], GUW #08041.

Last updated: 4th December 2020 by Margaret