Technique

The Palace in Rags, Thomas Colville Fine Art

MacDonald (1995) commented as follows:

'This fine drawing shows Whistler's constant interest in windows as a frame, a spatial element, with figures lit by the light of the window and also silhouetted against it: a problem of some complexity, which he resolved with extremely delicate use of colour. ...

The arrangement of the interior is not entirely clear: a flight of steps leads to a long chamber barely furnished but hung with pictures. Women in black are seated by a tall window, the man to left is drawn with meticulous detail. The window and figures, solidly modelled and richly coloured, are set like a jewel in the large bare rectangle of the apartment.

The scene is a vignette, with rough, bold work at the edge, heavy black and brown pastel which emphasizes the delicacy of the central area. The paper is a lightish brown, with a slight grain. There is grey on the wall and grey, with touches of pink, smoothed across the floor. The far wall is very dark, intensified by prussian blue over brown, with a blue hanging. These deep, cool colours, frame the view, where the roofs seem bright and sunny, touched with warmer colours, pink and orange. The figures are black and brown with minute flecks of complementary colours, green and blue, pink and orange.' 1