Titles

Only one title has been suggested:

• 'A Paris Model' (1960, Arts Council). 1
• 'A Paris Model' (1980, YMSM). 2

Description

A half-length portrait in oval, vertical format. It shows a girl with a long face and brown eyes and hair. She has pearl earrings, a blouse with a high-necked collar, several seams down the front of her fitted bodice, and puffs at the top of her sleeves. The background is brown. Only the top half of the canvas is painted.

Sitter

The model has not been identified.

Comments

Whistler painted a number of oval canvases of girls and women from about 1895 on, including A Paris Model [YMSM 458], The Widow [YMSM 459], Lillie: An Oval [YMSM 465], Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet [YMSM 500], Rose and Gold: The Little Lady Sophie of Soho [YMSM 504], Violet and Rose: Carmen qui rit [YMSM 506], Harmony in Rose and Green: Carmen [YMSM 507], Ivoire et or: Portrait de Madame Vanderbilt [YMSM 515], and Portrait of Mrs William Heinemann [YMSM 531].

Of these, A Paris Model, The Widow [YMSM 459], Lillie: An Oval [YMSM 465], Violet and Rose: Carmen qui rit [YMSM 506], and Harmony in Rose and Green: Carmen [YMSM 507] are all virtually the same size. Rose and Gold: The Little Lady Sophie of Soho [YMSM 504] and Ivoire et or: Portrait de Madame Vanderbilt [YMSM 515] are a little larger, and Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet [YMSM 500] by far the largest and most highly finished.