Whistler sitting under an umbrella dates from about 1878, being drawn on the back of a draft letter from Whistler to Louis Gonse (1846-1921), Director of the Gazette des Beaux Arts written in June 1878, which has nothing to do with the drawing. 1

Whistler sitting under an umbrella, Glasgow University Library

The scene represented shows Whistler in a charity performance of W. Dubourg's play Twenty Minutes under an Umbrella, in which he starred with Mrs Fowke at the Royal Albert Hall Theatre on 28 February 1876.

The drawing is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 681).