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

 

M.1524
The Captive

Artist: J. McN. Whistler, with additions by an unknown hand
Date: 1898
Collection: Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Accession Number: 74.60
Medium: pastel and pencil
Support: brown wove paper
Size: 10 7/8 x 7" (276 x 178 mm)
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: none

The Captive

Technique

The Captive, photograph, 1911
The Captive, photograph, 1911
The Captive, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2017
The Captive, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2017

Old photographs show the pastel as it was up to at least 1911. It was described in 1911 as 'on a grey background, done principally in black and white, but with a touch of red on the back of the divan and the cap.' 1

It has since been retouched or restored insensitively by an unknown hand. The original drawing has been covered with weak strokes of colour, white and pink, with light red on the sofa and baby's cheek, turquoise on her belt and at her feet, orange on her robe. The orangey-brown on her head and on the sofa is neater and might be the original colour.

Conservation History

It is not possible to remove the additional work without removing the traces of the original Whistler drawing.

Notes:

1: Buffalo Academy Notes 1911[more] at p. 44, repr. p. 42.

Last updated: 22nd February 2021 by Margaret