Titles
Several possible titles have been suggested:
- 'Violet & Rose "La Belle du Jour" ' (1903, Whistler). 1
- 'A Nude Study' (1903, Studio). 2
- 'Belle à jour, Blue and Violet' (1905, ISSPG). 3
- 'Bleu et Violet, La Belle de Jour' (1914, Christie's). 4
- 'Violet and Rose: La Belle de Jour' (1980, YMSM). 5
'Violet and Rose: La Belle de Jour' is the preferred title.
According to Mme Marchesi, 'Belle de jour, Whistler explained to us, is a blue and violet flower, which colour scheme he took for that picture.' 6
Violet and Rose: La Belle de Jour, Fogg Art Museum
Morning Glories, Freer Gallery of Art
'Belle de jour' is usually translated as a convolvulus, but Whistler probably meant specifically the Morning Glory, a blue flower of the convolvulus family. The subject, pose, and a similar title were used for a pastel on the recto of a sheet dating from the mid 1870s, r.: Morning Glories; v.: Nude study [M.0410].
Description
Violet and Rose: La Belle de Jour, Fogg Art Museum
A figure study in vertical format. A draped figure, facing the viewer, leans back on a railing. Her left hand is raised to her chin, her right hand possibly folded over her breast but concealed by the draperies. She wears pale pink robes and a lilac cap trimmed with pale green. A lilac/pale plum drapery hangs over the railing. The background is pale turquoise.
Sitter
Unknown. According to Mme Marchesi, 'He [Whistler] told us that he wanted to paint the face a little more but the model vanished.' 7
Notes:
1: GUL Whistler BP II Ledger c, p. 164.
2: Scott 1903 [more] , repr. p. 101.
3: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 57).
4: Christie's, London, 6 February 1914 (lot 141).
5: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 319).
6: Mme Marchesi to Knoedler's, 23 March 1914, Knoedler Archives.
7: Mme Marchesi to Knoedler's, 23 March 1914, Knoedler archives.
Last updated: 25th November 2020 by Margaret
