Titles

One principle title is known, but there were some variations:

• 'the Sofa' (1865, A. M. Whistler). 1
• 'Symphony in White, No. III. (heretofore named The Two Little White Girls)' (1867, W. M. Rossetti). 2
• 'Symphony in White No. 3' (1867, Royal Academy of Arts). 3
• 'Symphonie en blanc no. 3' (1883, Whistler). 4
• 'Symphony in White, No. III' (1892, Goupil). 5
• 'Symphony in White, No. 3' (1980, YMSM). 6

The preferred title is 'Symphony in White, No. 3'. It was the first of Whistler's paintings to be exhibited with a musical title, although Paul Mantz (1821-1895) had called Whistler's first 'White Girl' a 'Symphonie du blanc' in 1863 (see Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl [YMSM 038]). 7 The Pennells point out that this may have been a factor that influenced Whistler in his choice of titles for the third in the series. 8 The first two were renamed later to fit into the sequence (see Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl [YMSM 038], Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl [YMSM 052]).

Philip Gilbert Hamerton (1834-1894) complained, when Symphony in White, No. 3 was first exhibited in 1867, that it was 'not precisely a symphony in white', since other colours appeared. 9 Whistler's celebrated response was probably not written at that time. A version was written by Whistler in the margin of a press cutting book and dated 'Nov. 1878'. 10 Variations were published in 1887 and again in 1890 (dated 'Chelsea, June 1867'). The 1887 version reads:

'And does he then, in his astounding consequence, believe that a symphony in F contains no other note, but shall be a continued repetition of F, F, F?.... Fool!' 11

Description

A figure composition in horizontal format. A straight backed sofa covered in white stands on a pale blue patterned carpet. At left, a young woman with red hair reclines on the sofa, leaning on her right arm, with her left arm stretched along the back of the sofa. She looks directly at the viewer. She wears a white high-necked dress with narrow white trimming, and long sleeves of fine gathered muslin with low, double-capped, shoulders. At right, another red-haired woman sits on the floor, in profile to left, with her right arm stretched out along the sofa and her left arm relaxed on her knees, with a fan leaning against her knee. She is wearing a pale cream or ivory coloured dress, with floppy puffed sleeves, fitting closely from above the elbow. There are blossoms in the lower right corner.

The structure of the sofa (which is painted parallel to the horizontal sides of the painting), and its relationship to the room and to the wall panel and curtain at right, is not at all clear. Exactly where the sofa back ends at left is unknown, because it is concealed by the model, but the seat appears to extend further to left than the (invisible) back of the sofa. 12

Sitter

Two models posed for this painting. The woman on the sofa was Joanna Hiffernan (b. ca 1843-d.1886) . The other sitter was Emelie 'Millie' Eyre Jones (1850-1920) , who married Stuart Robson (1836-1903) (1836-1903) in 1870. Her sister Augusta Maria Jones (1843-1902) also posed for Whistler, though not necessarily for this painting.

In 1865 Whistler described the figure of Hiffernan as 'tout ce que j'ai fait de plus pur - tête charmante. Le corps, les jambes, etc., se voient parfaitement à travers la robe' and he described the other model as 'tête blonde, robe de soie blanche jaunatre.' 13 Thirty years later he recalled Hiffernan's hair, as shown in the painting, as 'red - or copper coloured - and full of light - and the face is very fair - though golden.' 14

The Pennells suggested that in the intervals of painting Symphony in White, No. 3 [YMSM 061] Whistler painted The Artist's Studio from the same two models. 15 Sittings for Symphony in White, No. 3 probably overlapped with those for The Artist's Studio and The Artist in his Studio (Whistler in his Studio) [YMSM 063].

Milly Jones also sat for other artists including Albert Joseph Moore (1841-1893). A drawing after Moore, reproduced above, shows similar features to Whistler's model. It may be a study for the head of one of the girls in his painting A Musician of 1865-1866 (Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven). 16 Jones also posed nude for Moore's painting Azaleas (1867, Victoria & Albert Museum).

Other works for which she posed include a chalk drawing, Study for head of Miss Milly Jones, by Edward John Poynter (1836-1919) (Bonham's, 2 March 2016, lot 69) and several paintings by Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys (1829-1904): Gentle Spring (1863-1865, Ashmolean Museum, reproduced above), May Margaret (1865-1866, Delaware Art Museum), Berenice, Queen of Egypt (1867, Leighton House Museum), and Valkyrie (1868, Williamson Art Gallery and Museum, Birkenhead).