Description

Sotheby's quotes a letter from M. F. MacDonald dated 1993:

"[Whistler's] model, in a tight waisted dress, is lying on a sofa, turning away from the artist, with her right hand raised to her head and the other trailing down. Pentimenti make it difficult to tell if her trailing hand is clenched or if she is holding something, perhaps a cigarette. The pose, though intimate, with a bohemian abandonment of formality, is certainly not relaxed: it might suggest weariness.

The costume is similar to that of the young woman in one of Whistler's earliest etchings Au Sixième. The model for both may be Whistler's passionate 'grisette', the 'modiste' Eloïse, known as 'Fumette.' " 1

Sitter

Possibly Eloise ('Fumette') (fl. 1840-1858) .