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

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YMSM 113
Nocturne in Blue and Silver

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1871/1872
Collection: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Accession Number: 1943.176
Medium: oil
Support: canvas
Size: 44.4 x 60.3 cm (17 1/2 x 23 3/4")
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: none
Frame: Grau-style, American, Grieve Co. label, ca 1930 [10.8 cm]

Nocturne in Blue and Silver

Nocturne in Blue and Silver dates from 1871 or 1872. 1

Nocturne in Blue and Silver, Fogg Art Museum
Nocturne in Blue and Silver, Fogg Art Museum

It is dated from the technique and the form of the butterfly monogram on a cartouche at lower right. According to Whistler, speaking at the time of the Whistler v. Ruskin trial in 1878, he 'completed the mass of the picture in one day.' 2

It was given by Whistler to Frances Leyland (1834-1910) and was in the Leyland home at Speke Hall, near Liverpool, by November 1872. 3

Notes:

1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 113).

2: Whistler 1890 [more] , p. 8. Merrill 1992 [more] , pp. 151-52.

3: Whistler to F. R. Leyland, [2/8 November 1872], GUW #08794.

Last updated: 13th May 2021 by Margaret