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

 

YMSM 305
Harmony in Brown and Gold: Old Chelsea Church

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1884
Collection: Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Accession Number: F1902.152a-b
Medium: oil
Support: wood
Size: 89 x 148 mm (3 1/2 x 5 3/4")
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: none
Frame: Small Dowdeswell, 1884 [11.1 cm]

Harmony in Brown and Gold: Old Chelsea Church

Titles

Only one title has been suggested:

  • 'Harmony in brown and gold – Old Chelsea Church'. 1
  • 'Harmony in Brown and Gold: Old Chelsea Church' (1980, YMSM). 2

Description

Harmony in Brown and Gold: Old Chelsea Church. Freer Gallery of Art
Harmony in Brown and Gold: Old Chelsea Church. Freer Gallery of Art

A river scene, painted in horizontal format. A row of houses is seen on the far shore, with a church tower to right of centre.

Site

It shows the Chelsea bank of the river Thames in London, with old Chelsea church and Lindsey Row, viewed from the Battersea shore. Whistler's etching Little Chelsea (Memorial) [315], dating from 1887, shows a view very like the oil.

Notes:

1: 'Notes' - 'Harmonies' - 'Nocturnes', Messrs Dowdeswell, London, 1884 (cat. no. 44).

2: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 305).

Last updated: 14th December 2020 by Margaret