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

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M.0023
Man wearing spectacles

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1853/1855
Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Accession Number: 1970.121.59
Medium: pencil
Support: off-white wove paper
Size: 4 1/4-4 7/16 x 5 1/4-5 7/16" (108-113 x 134-139 mm)
Signature: none
Inscription: none

Man wearing spectacles

Sitter

Man wearing spectacles, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Man wearing spectacles, Metropolitan Museum of Art

It is likely that this drawing was done while Whistler was still in America, but the sitter has not been identified. It has been suggested that the sitter was Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910) , although he is usually depicted with more hair and without glasses. 1

Notes:

1: In, for instance, his etched self portrait of 1862, National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG D35104. A wider date range, now discounted, raised the possibility of the sitter being Haden, as suggested in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] .

Last updated: 13th March 2021 by Margaret