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

Home  > Catalogue > People > Charles Sessler (related works) > Catalogue entry

M.1127
Whistler's pictures at the Royal Society of British Artists

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1887
Collection: Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Accession Number: 1943.3.8815
Medium: pencil
Support: cream laid paper with watermark of plumed helmet on a shield over 'S&h' on a scroll
Size: 7 15/16 x 4 15/16" (202 x 125 mm)
Signature: none
Inscription: v.: 'LJR' (L. J. Rosenwald) in unknown hand

Whistler's pictures at the Royal Society of British Artists

Provenance

  • 1917: probably bought from Messrs Dowdeswell by Colnaghi's, London art dealers, 3 April;
  • 1919: sold by Colnaghi's to D. Farr, Philadelphia dealer, 20 June.
  • 1930: probably bought from Charles Sessler (1854-1935) , Philadelphia dealer, by Lessing Julius Rosenwald (1891-1971) on 17 July 1930;
  • 1943: given to the National Gallery of Art but housed at Alverthorpe until 1980.

Further details is given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1127).

Exhibitions

Whistler's pictures at the Royal Society of British Artists, National Gallery of Art, DC
Whistler's pictures at the Royal Society of British Artists, National Gallery of Art, DC
Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Valparaiso Bay ,Freer Gallery of Art
Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Valparaiso Bay ,Freer Gallery of Art

It represents the 64th Annual Exhibition, Royal Society of British Artists, London, 1887, with, on the left, Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Valparaiso Bay [YMSM 076]. The portrait of a woman, seen to right, is Harmony in Black, No. 10 [YMSM 357].

There is no record of this drawing being exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Last updated: 21st February 2021 by Margaret