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

 

Rose and Gold: The Little Lady Sophie of Soho

                Rose and Gold: The Little Lady Sophie of Soho, Freer Gallery of Art
Rose and Gold: The Little Lady Sophie of Soho, Freer Gallery of Art

                Rose and Gold: The Little Lady Sophie of Soho, photograph by W. E. Gray, 1899
Rose and Gold: The Little Lady Sophie of Soho, photograph by W. E. Gray, 1899

                Plan of a panel of pictures for the ISSPG, Tate Archive, London
Plan of a panel of pictures for the ISSPG, Tate Archive, London

                Paintings at the ISSPG, Glasgow University Library
Paintings at the ISSPG, Glasgow University Library

REPRODUCTION:

The painting was reproduced in the 1899 International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers exhibition catalogue. Whistler sent C. L. Freer (its future owner) a proof of the photogravure. He replied: 'The Little Lady Sophie is beautifully reproduced - and it must have been difficult ... I will count upon that same sensitiveness, with perfect security, when I urge you to see that the prints of this little Lady, throughout the whole edition be, each one, as pure and silvery as the proof you send me!' Whistler also sent a proof of the photogravure to the art dealer E. G. Kennedy, suggesting he might wish to display it. 1

Freer commissioned Henry Wolf (1852-1916) to reproduce the painting by wood engraving on 4 December 1903, and paid for the engraved block and prints in January 1904. The Freer Gallery of Art has numerous impressions, at least one in brown ink, but most in black. 2

Last updated: 21st November 2020 by Margaret