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

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M.0841.
Sketch of 'Arrangement in Grey and Black, No.2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle'

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1881
Collection: Whereabouts Unknown
Accession Number: none
Medium: pen and ink
Support: probably paper
Size: unknown, possibly 102 x 95 mm, 4 x 3 3/4" (repr. 98 x 92 mm, 3 7/8 x 3 5/8")
Signature: none
Inscription: none

Sketch of 'Arrangement in Grey and Black, No.2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle'

Composition

Sketch of 'Arrangement in Grey and Black, No.2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle', from Way 1912, f.p. 44
Sketch of 'Arrangement in Grey and Black, No.2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle', from Way 1912, f.p. 44

This is supposedly a memory sketch of Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle [YMSM 137], but this is unlikely: Whistler had access to the oil painting and photographs of it.

Technique

An unusual sketch, with concentration on areas of shading rather than the outlines of the figure.

Last updated: 28th May 2021 by Margaret