Portrait of Major G. W. Whistler (1) dates from 1859. 1

In a letter from Paris in 1859 to his half-sister, Deborah Delano Haden (1825-1908), Whistler wrote, 'I am trying to make a portrait of Father for George from a lithograph he sent me - this is very difficult, but with the aid of a glass and a friend who has promised to sit for me, and who is like Father in color, I hope to succeed.' 2 'George' was Whistler's elder half-brother, George William Whistler (1822-1869).