Composition

The model for this painting is thought to be Eva Carrington, who also posed for Whistler's Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl [YMSM 421]. The pose is also very similar though in reverse. A related drawing is in the Fogg Art Museum, Sketch of 'Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl' [M.1379].

Technique

The carpet, and the pale greenish strokes on the top of the woman's head, have been painted very freely, with clearly differentiated brush strokes, using a square ended brush. The figure has been worked up with layer on layer of thin paint. The plum coloured tints of the robe are as thin and liquid as watercolour. The face has been overworked and the features are blurred. The pinkish and grey background has been revised and painted around the top and right of the figure, suggesting the head and cloak may originally have extended up and to right. The whole surface of the painting has been rubbed down, probably as part of the painting process.

Conservation History

Unknown. It is not known when the photograph published in 1904 was actually taken; the lighting and reproduction process may account for minor differences, such as the sharper outline of the face seen in Les Arts, and variations in the texture of the cloak and the wall behind it at right.

Frame

116.0 x 84.4 x 8.2 cm.