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

 

The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe

Titles

Whistler's own title is not known for certain. The later title probably comes from his sister-in-law:

  • 'The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe' (n.d., R. Birnie Philip). 1
  • 'The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe' (1960, Arts Council). 2
  • 'Das Haus des Priesters, Dieppe' (1969, Nationalgalerie, Berlin). 3
  • The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe (1980, YMSM). 4

'The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe' is the generally accepted title.

Description


                    The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe, The Hunterian
The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe, The Hunterian

A house front, painted in horizontal format. A cobbled street and narrow pavement are indicated in the foreground. To left of centre is a grey door with four small rectangular panes of glass above the door. At left is a window with white and pale green chequered shutters, and originally, in front of this, stood a woman in a black dress, and perhaps a child, but these have been partially painted over. On the other side of the door is a grey panel, possibly a shutter, and then a wide window with small panes, all tinted green. Below the windows the wall is painted a brownish mauve, with a dark square object, possibly a box or bucket, under the larger window at right.

Site

Andrew McLaren Young (1913-1975) suggested that A Shop [YMSM 376] and The Priest's Lodging, Dieppe [YMSM 482] were painted in Dieppe at the same time. 5

Whistler was frequently in or passing through Dieppe, a busy port and ferry terminal, with lengthy stays in 1885, and in 1896-1898. He described it in 1896 as 'a lovely place.' 6 However, a few days later he complained: 'The work I have no success with! ... this is the last day - and on this day only do I find what I want both in picture and place in which to paint it.' 7

Alternatively, if the 'Dieppe' of the title is incorrect, The Priest's Lodging of the title suggests that it could be related to a lithograph drawn in Rouen in 1894, The Priest's House, Rouen c105, although this was not an image Whistler liked: when it was printed he called it 'a dull mealy tiresome thing, ... Please destroy it at once.' 8

Another (fairly remote) possibility is a subject hinted at in October 1899 when Whistler, writing from Paris, mentioned that painting in 'Cathedral corners' had made him ill:

'It really is an awful business this neuralgia! … & of course as usual I deserved what I brought upon myself! for I sat, and continued to sit for three of four days running in Cathedral corners … It was the only way of bringing back the panels - and now I have brought back a very beautifully developed form of neuralgia called Zona.' 9

But what cathedral corners?

Notes:

1: The Hunterian files.

2: Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (cat. no. 57).

3: Spencer, Robin, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 1969 (cat. no. 54).

4: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 482).

5: Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (cat. no. 57); Young, A. McLaren, Glasgow University's Pictures, Colnaghi, London, 1973 (cat. no. 106).

6: Whistler to R. Birnie Philip, [27 September 1896], GUW #04676.

7: Whistler to R. Birnie Philip, [30 September 1896], GUW #04679.

8: Whistler to Thomas Way, [26 November 1894], GUW #09574.

9: Whistler to R. Birnie Philip, [30 October 1899], GUW #04755.

Last updated: 2nd November 2020 by Margaret