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

 

Head of a Girl

Head of a Girl dates from between December 1894 and March 1895. 1

It was probably painted in the studio of Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942), 13 Robert Street, between December 1894 and March 1895. According to Sickert 'a little head' was one of three canvases (with Head of Mrs Beaumont [YMSM 430] and Portrait of Mrs Walter Cave [YMSM 431]) that 'Whistler in a then fit of good humour said I could have', but Sickert later lost track of them and wrote asking Florence Pash Humphrey Holland (1860-1951) if she had them. 2 He described it as 'a head of a girl who is married to a big colonial-warren shop in Pall Mall', and asked Florence Pash to sell it, or one of the other two canvases. 3

Notes:

1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 432).

2: [1900], Islington Public Library, London.

3: [ca 1900], Islington Public Library, London.

Last updated: 3rd January 2021 by Margaret