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

 

M.0840
Portrait of Thomas Carlyle

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1881
Collection: Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Accession Number: F1905.154
Medium: pencil, pen, brown ink and wash
Support: cream wove paper
Size: 5 9/16-5 11/16 x 5-5 3/16" (141-144 x 126-132 mm)
Signature: none, although a cartouche for the signature is indicated to right of the figure
Inscription: 'J. A. M. W' in unknown hand.

Portrait of Thomas Carlyle

Portrait of Thomas Carlyle dates from before April 1881, when Whistler, according to T. R. Way, made two memory sketches of Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle [YMSM 137], as a possible illustration for the Gazette des Beaux Arts, but decided that neither was suitable for the purpose. 1

Portrait of Thomas Carlyle, Freer Gallery of Art
Portrait of Thomas Carlyle, Freer Gallery of Art

This is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 840).

Notes:

1: Way 1912 [more] , pp. 44-45.

Last updated: 10th March 2021 by Margaret