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

 

M.0498
Study for 'Portrait of Miss May Alexander'

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1874
Collection: British Museum, London
Accession Number: 1958-2-8-4
Medium: pen and dark brown ink
Support: cream laid paper with partial watermark 'N' and embossed monogram 'FRL' [F.R.Leyland]
Size: 4 3/8 x 7 1/16" (112 x 180 mm)
Signature: 'J A McN Whistler.' on letter
Inscription: [letter, p. 5: ] '... I think it would be charming to paint May with the hat on, the feather swooping grandly away! - I dont exactly know how - but they will manage it. - [drawing] And now, ... I would offer to inflict myself upon Aubrey House for a week or so, and get at the picture every morning! The habit will be black I suppose - and the hat black felt or grey with white feather and black arrangement - ...'

Study for 'Portrait of Miss May Alexander'

Study for 'Portrait of Miss May Alexander' is included in a letter to Rachel Agnes Lucas (Mrs W. C. Alexander) (1837-1900), dating from the autumn of 1874. 1

Study for 'Portrait of Miss May Alexander', British Museum
Study for 'Portrait of Miss May Alexander', British Museum

The drawing is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 498) where it was dated 1873.

Notes:

1: Whistler to R. A. Alexander, [September/October 1874], GUW #07583.

Last updated: 23rd February 2021 by Margaret