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

 

Nocturne in Blue and Silver

Nocturne in Blue and Silver dates from between 1875 and 1878. 1


                Nocturne in Blue and Silver, Yale Center for British Art
Nocturne in Blue and Silver, Yale Center for British Art

The technique suggests a date in the late 1870s and it may well have been the 'Nocturne in Blue and Silver' exhibited in the II Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1878 (cat. no. 53).

Nocturne in Blue and Silver [YMSM 151] was probably painted shortly after Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge [YMSM 140], and the butterfly signature, of the type first used by Whistler about 1883/1884, must have been added later, possibly at the time of the Paris exhibition in 1883.

Notes:

1: Dated 'about 1872/8' in YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 151).

Last updated: 6th February 2021 by Margaret