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

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Palette

Description


                    Palette, Glasgow University Library
Palette, Glasgow University Library

Whistler's accompanying letter describes the table palette as follows:

'You must send for Grau and tell him to make at once, a palette exactly like mine - the same size, etc. - - with the little boxes all round for the paints - you know. - finish it at once - pack it up and send it to

Monsieur de La Gandara 22. / Rue Monsieur le Prince / Paris.'

I cannot tell you how courteous and kind he has been - nor can I exagerate [sic] the unheard of trouble I have given him - Happily this present from me will be for him a joy beyond all past annoyances - and I am sure you will wish him to have it' 1

Whistler and Portrait of Maud Franklin, photograph, GUL Whistler PH1/120
Whistler and Portrait of Maud Franklin, photograph, GUL Whistler PH1/120

A photograph of Whistler at work on Portrait of Maud Franklin [YMSM 353], reproduced above, probably in 1886, shows him using a table palette.

In 1886 George Augustus Sala (1828-1895) had described Whistler's Fulham Road studio, where he used such a table palette, and George Percy Jacomb Hood (1857-1929) painted the palette loaded with paint and oil. 2

Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac (1855-1921) described the palette as 'une vaste table d'acajou sur le coin de laquelle, en une minuscule plaque d'argent, voltige le butterfly'. 3

Notes:

1: GUW #06603.

2: Salaman 1886 B [more] . Pennell 1921C [more] , palette repr. f.p. 122. The original is now in Tate Britain.

3: Newton 1990 [more] , p. 149.

Last updated: 23rd February 2021 by Margaret