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

 

M.0298
Passport

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1855-1863
Collection: Glasgow University Library
Accession Number: MS Whistler NB10
Medium: pencil and crayon
Support: off-white wove paper in a leather-bound notebook manufactured by Carter and Bromley, London
Size: notebook (116 x 84 mm closed), containing a folded linen-backed sheet (165 x 170 mm overall, irregular) for passport details and consular stamps, and a paper notebook (46 sides, 165 x 170 mm open)
Signature: none
Inscription: various

Passport

Composition

Wapping, GUL NB10, p. 43
Wapping, GUL NB10, p. 43
Wapping, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Wapping, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

One sketch in the notebook has the first known study of the composition of the oil Wapping [YMSM 035]

Technique

Lady with page and courtier, in Tudor dress, GUL NB10, p. 46
Lady with page and courtier, in Tudor dress, GUL NB10, p. 46

It is not certain that all the sketches are by Whistler. The Pre-Raphaelite-type figure illustrated above is not like his usual style, but the element of caricature makes it hard to judge the author.

Conservation History

The sketches are very rubbed, darkened, and spotted.

Last updated: 8th March 2021 by Margaret