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

 

YMSM 163
Cremorne, No. 1

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1875/1877
Collection: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Accession Number: 1943.171
Medium: oil
Support: canvas
Size: 49.5 x 76.2 cm (19 1/2 x 30")
Signature: none
Inscription: none
Frame: Flat Whistler, painted frieze with Foord & Dickinson label, ca 1877 [16.5 cm]

Cremorne, No. 1

Cremorne, No. 1 dates from between about 1875 and 1877. 1

Cremorne, No. 1, Fogg Art Museum
Cremorne, No. 1, Fogg Art Museum

On 18 September 1875, Whistler's mother Anna Matilda Whistler (1804-1881) mentioned Whistler's 'Moonlight pictures' including 'one lately finished of Cremorne Gardens at Chelsea.' 2

Cremorne Gardens, No. 2 [YMSM 164] and Nocturne: Cremorne Gardens, No. 3 [YMSM 165] are particularly close to Cremorne, No. 1 [YMSM 163] in date, technique and treatment of the subject.

Cremorne Gardens, Chelsea, was closed to the public in 1877, so Whistler's series of six known nocturnal paintings of them must date from before then.

Notes:

1: Dated 'about 1872/5' in YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 163).

2: Letter to J. H. Gamble, GUW #06555.

Last updated: 22nd May 2021 by Margaret