Titles
Only one title is known:
Description
Whistler described it as '... representing a girl in Japanese dress, known in Academy catalogue as the scarf.' 3 Reviews in 1865 confirm that, like Caprice in Purple and Gold: The Golden Screen [YMSM 060], it was a Japanese subject. 4
'Private View of the Royal Academy', Punch, 13 May 1865, p. 196
'Private View of the Royal Academy', Punch, 13 May 1865, p. 196 (detail)
Punch included a small sketch of the painting in a cartoon entitled 'Private View of the Royal Academy'. It shows a woman with bouffant hairstyle wearing a long, close-fitting dress that trails onto the ground in front of her. Both her hands are raised as if in astonishment, and she bends forward to right. Behind her is a railing and on it is a wide piece of material decorated with large dark spots. 5
Sitter
Unknown.
Notes:
1: 97th Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1865 (cat. no. 569).
2: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 59).
3: Whistler to C. A. Howell, 23 August 1881, GUW #02884.
4: 'Exhibition of the Royal Academy. Second Notice', The Times, London, 8 May 1865, p. 8.
5: 'Private View of the Royal Academy', Punch, 13 May 1865, p. 196.
Last updated: 8th August 2021 by Grischka
