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

 

M.1046
r.: Grey note - Mouth of the Thames; v.: Caricature of a man in a cocked hat

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1885
Collection: Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Accession Number: 23.251
Medium: r.: watercolour and opaque watercolour; v.: graphite pencil
Support: r.: brown wove paper; v.: cream paper, laid down on card
Size: 5 x 8 7/16" (127 x 215 mm)
Signature: r.: butterfly
Inscription: v.: 'Grey note – Mouth of Thames', and, in another hand, 'by J. McNeill Whistler/ owner Walter Gay/ 73 rue Amère [illegible]'

r.: Grey note - Mouth of the Thames; v.: Caricature of a man in a cocked hat

Provenance

  • By 1904: owned by Walter Gay (1856-1937) , Paris;
  • 1923: given as 'Little Scheveningen – Grey Note' (sic) to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 7 June 1923.

Little Scheveningen [M.0965], which was also owned by Walter Gay, was confused with this watercolour in 1923.

Exhibitions

  • 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 140) as 'Grey Note – Mouth of the Thames'.
  • 1905: 100th Anniversary Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1905 (cat. no. 443).

Last updated: 7th June 2021 by Margaret