Gold Girl dates from 1872/1873.

On 20 March 1872 Whistler was commissioned by Henry Cole (1808-1882), Director of South Kensington Museum, to design 'two figures, one of Neath, the Egyptian Goddess of the Spindle, and the other of a Japanese art worker' for arched niches in the museum. 1 In March 1873 Whistler described his progress on a 'Gold Girl' and wrote to Alan Summerly Cole (1846-1934):

'Your Gold Girl is all right - you have seen her well under way and in full swing ... and you shall have the large one coloured and finished quite as soon as you are really ready for her ... the Japanese painter of the Sun shall be of my most superb ... It will take me one day and a half to finish perfectly the small Gold Girl - and two days to colour the large one you send me, photographed i.e. enlarged - Now you do not need the large finished work until the middle of April ... Say this to your father from me and say that I bind myself to the accomplishment of this thing - moreover I have set my heart on having it in your halls in a state of perfection for exhibition ... Only how swell to have my others in the Academy and my Symphony in Gold at the Kensington Museum at the same time!' 2

However, despite numerous drawings, a cartoon and oil sketch, the project was abandoned.

It is assumed that there was at least one drawing for the figure of a 'Gold Girl', although it is not extant, and this was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 461).