Portrait of Miss Amy Brandon Thomas dates from 1890. 1 According to the sitter, Amy Marguerite Brandon Thomas (Mrs Barnes-Brand) (1890-1974), this was probably painted in the autumn of 1890. 2

Portrait of Miss Amy Brandon Thomas, frame, detail

A label on the stretcher, written by Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942), reads:

'Portrait of Amy Brandon Thomas painted in my studio 13 Robert Street N.W. by James McNeill Whistler.'

Portrait of Miss Amy Brandon Thomas , Whereabouts unknown

It was finally sent by Whistler to the sitter's father Brandon Thomas (1849-1914) in 1895. He thanked Whistler enthusiastically:

'I was sure you would have sent us the sketch sooner but I know how you had been racked with terrible anxieties so did not bother you with letters. All the same we have been keeping its place on the drawing room wall waiting & hoping! I knew it was beautiful & I hope to the lord you won't do anything to it unless you are quite mad to do it, for an alteration is not always an improvement in dramatic things & it may be so, for all I know, in painting! And it was just lovely. A spirit, a shadow, a divine sketch - we shall be quite content with it as it is I can tell you!' 3