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

 

M.1183
Green and Blue - The Fields - Loches

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1888
Collection: Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Accession Number: 60.87
Medium: watercolour
Support: white linen or silk
Size: 6 7/8 x 10 11/16" (122 x 206 mm)
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: v.: 'Green and Blue', signed with butterfly; 'Made by Whistler in the Touraine in 1888 when he and his wife were there on their wedding journey -' written by Howard Mansfield; and in an unknown hand, 'H. M. bought this on the last day of the lst Exhibition of Whistler Watercolor in New York held at H.Wunderlich and Company. H. M. has wished for it all along and an unexpected fee enabled him to acquire it.'

Green and Blue - The Fields - Loches

Provenance

  • 1889: bought by Howard Mansfield (1849-1938) .
  • Date unknown: with H. Harlow & Co., Fifth Avenue, New York.
  • 1934: sent by Mrs C. J. Sullivan to Macbeth, New York dealers;
  • 1935: owned by Edwin A. Seasongood (1876-1953) ;
  • 1951: sold at auction, Parke-Bernet, New York, 5-6 November 1951 (lot 305), and bought by Knoedler's, New York dealers;
  • 1956: sold to Hammer, New York dealers, 28 December 1956.
  • 1960: bought from Charles Lock, New York dealer, by Louis Vellette Keeler (1891-1969) and his wife Martha Emma Keeler;
  • 1960: gift of Mr and Mrs Louis V. Keeler, Class of 1911, to Cornell University.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1183).

Exhibitions

  • 1889: “Notes” – “Harmonies” – “Nocturnes”, H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, 1889 (cat. no. 3) as 'Green and Blue – The Fields – Loches'.
  • 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 92) as 'Green and Blue – The Fields – Loches'.

New York Herald, 2 March 1889, thought it 'Also worthy of mention' and The Epoch, 8 March 1889, commented on the quality of the cloud effects.

Last updated: 27th February 2021 by Margaret