Titles

Several variations on the title are known:

• 'The little St. Catherine' (1896, Whistler). 1
• 'Honfleur Church' (1896, Whistler). 2
• 'Brown and Gold – The Curé's Little Class' (1899, Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts). 3
• 'Brown and Gold: The Curé's Little Class' (1980, YMSM). 4

'Brown and Gold: The Curé's Little Class' is the preferred title.

Description

An interior scene in a church, in horizontal format. There are rows of wooden pews, with the class sitting at far left. Across the back is a very broad arch with broad pillars at left and right and two narrow ones in the middle, supporting the first floor balcony.

Site

This was painted in the church of St Catherine, when Whistler was on a trip to Honfleur with E. G. Kennedy, New York art dealer, in July 1896. Whistler referred to it as the 'Honfleur Church' and 'The little St Catherine.' 5

After his wife's death, Whistler found some consolation in the shrines and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church when he was travelling with Kennedy (they spent a week, travelling to Le Havre, Honfleur and Trouville). The unusual subject probably reflects this interest. Indeed, when he had just started this painting on 14 July 1896 Whistler told his sister-in-law, 'If I could have found the old woman or a verger I should have put up a candle for Trixie - Indeed I wish I were a Catholic.' 6

Comments

This is one of several religious sites drawn or painted by Whistler around this time, including St John's, Westminster [YMSM 454], St Anne's, Soho c162 and St Giles-in-the-Fields c167.