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

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The Scarf

Titles

Only one title is known:

  • 'The Scarf' (1865, Royal Academy). 1
  • 'The Scarf' (1980, YMSM). 2

Description

Whistler described it as '... representing a girl in Japanese dress, known in Academy catalogue as the scarf.' 3 Reviews in 1865 confirm that, like Caprice in Purple and Gold: The Golden Screen [YMSM 060], it was a Japanese subject. 4

'Private View of the Royal Academy', Punch, 13 May 1865, p. 196
'Private View of the Royal Academy', Punch, 13 May 1865, p. 196
'Private View of the Royal Academy', Punch, 13 May 1865, p. 196 (detail)
'Private View of the Royal Academy', Punch, 13 May 1865, p. 196 (detail)

Punch included a small sketch of the painting in a cartoon entitled 'Private View of the Royal Academy'. It shows a woman with bouffant hairstyle wearing a long, close-fitting dress that trails onto the ground in front of her. Both her hands are raised as if in astonishment, and she bends forward to right. Behind her is a railing and on it is a wide piece of material decorated with large dark spots. 5

Sitter

Unknown.

Notes:

1: 97th Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1865 (cat. no. 569).

2: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 59).

3: Whistler to C. A. Howell, 23 August 1881, GUW #02884.

4: 'Exhibition of the Royal Academy. Second Notice', The Times, London, 8 May 1865, p. 8.

5: 'Private View of the Royal Academy', Punch, 13 May 1865, p. 196.

Last updated: 8th August 2021 by Grischka