Titles

Only one title is known, with variations only in punctuation:

• 'Harmony in Rose & Green (Carmen)' (1903/1935, Harold Wright). 1
• 'Harmony in Rose and Green: Carmen' (1980, YMSM). 2

'Harmony in Rose and Green: Carmen', the title given in the 1980 catalogue, is generally accepted.

Description

An oval head and shoulders portrait of a plump woman wearing a deep purplish red v-necked dress and jacket. She is in three-quarter view to right, looking at the artist/viewer with a slight smile. Her dark hair is parted in the centre, curves over her cheeks, and frames her face. The canvas is in vertical format.

Sitter

Carmen Rossi (fl. 1880/1901) . The warmth of colour and expression in her face make this more attractive than some of Whistler's portraits of Carmen Rossi, although it is not finished.

She is wearing the same dress as in Violet and Rose: Carmen qui rit [YMSM 506].