Composition

The vivid pen drawing, Battersea Reach, looking across the Thames, reproduced above, shows a similar view, and may have been a study for the oil or the pastel, The Thames [M.0473], reproduced below.

The vividly coloured pastel shows the same view and a similar foreground of shipping. It may have been based on the oil, rather than being a study for it.

Technique

1870: The coarse canvas was originally under-painted in brown, before the surface was covered thinly with a complimentary shade of blue. According to Thomas Armstrong (1832-1911), John Chandler Bancroft (1835-1901) saw it 'prepared with what he called a chocolate brown':

'it had to be repainted in consequence of the surface having decayed. The result, though not durable, was most successful in quality of colour. This method of under-painting with what would be called a complementary colour was written about by one Hundutpfund.' 1

Art of painting restored to its simplest and surest principles, by Liberat Hundutpfund (1806-1878), was published in London in 1849 in translation from the German. It is quite possible that the book was known to Whistler, either directly or though a fellow-artist.

There are pentimenti on some of the horizon features (the slag heap, tower and chimneys) and on the boats and jetty. The surface has been rubbed as part of the painting process, increasing the blurred softness of the already thin paint.

Armstrong described this painting as a 'dark blue sea piece' but it is now greyish-black in colour, except for the spots of lights and their reflections, painted carefully with a fine pointed brush in several colours from white to yellow and orange. 2

Conservation History

1878: The painting was varnished by Orazio Buggiani (b. ca 1818) and a new frame was supplied, possibly for exhibition in London at Westminster Hall on 25 November 1878 during the Whistler v. Ruskin trial. Whistler wrote to Mrs Rawlinson at that time:

'Signor Buggiani who brings the Nocturne, is an Italian gentleman whom I beg to present to you - he has varnished the Nocturne for me - and is greatly gifted in all understanding of pictures and their ways - Perhaps you will if convenient let him look at your collection and if you have any (Old Masters or Modern) that require cleaning, restoring or varnishing let me recommend Signor Buggiani.' 3

1887: By December 1887 'patches' had appeared, and Whistler offered to give William George Rawlinson (1840-1928) as much as Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890) had given for it 'or paint a new one for a new price'; Rawlinson replied that he wanted 'another one like it', and, when he heard nothing from Whistler, he sent the painting to William Dyer & Sons, 'the renowned picture doctor' at 8 Orchard Street, from whom it came back, 'very beautiful again.' 4

1892: Whistler wrote under the entry for this painting in a copy of the 1892 Goupil Gallery exhibition catalogue, 'Richards ought to put right & then borrow for Munich.' 5

Whistler may have worked on it again in 1892, or his picture restorer, Stephen Richards (1844-1900), may have put it 'right'. Photographs of it, reproduced in 1892 and 1903 (seen above), differ from the painting as it is today in that the three chimneys are barely discernible; the end of the jetty is more pointed; the reflections of the jetty and the large sail are slightly altered; and the sail immediately to the right of the large sail is complete, whereas it has now virtually disappeared. Whether these were changes made by Whistler or are the results of the deterioration or restoration of the work in later years is difficult to establish.

Photographs of the painting under different light conditions and exposures have resulted in varying effects: the image above, as reproduced in the 1980 catalogue raisonné, is far too light.

Conservation records at the Freer Gallery of Art note that the varnish was removed and 'Considerable repaint' undertaken in 1921; it was relined, retouched, and resurfaced in 1922, surfaced again in 1933, cleaned and surfaced in 1951. It was vandalised, repaired, and re-varnished in 1954. Some retouching using zinc white (zinc oxide), conflicting with the original white lead matrix pigment in the sky, caused considerable deterioration by 1959, and it was again cleaned, re-stretched, filled and in-painted, and re-varnished. 6

Frame

• By 1877: original frame of unknown style.
• 1878: replaced with a new Flat Whistler frame with a painted seigaiha pattern.
• 1892: painted decoration removed.

For some reason Whistler had to replace the original frame with a new one for the owners, and, in the late autumn of 1878, Whistler wrote to Mrs Rawlinson saying, ‘My trial with Ruskin makes me very busy just now but I shall come soon to call - and also to bring another frame - painted - don’t let this one be touched please - I will explain.' 7 What happened to the initial frame that required Whistler to replace it remains unknown. It is possible that a well-intentioned painting restorer cleaned the frame, since in the same letter, Whistler discussed the cleaning and varnishing the painting had received from the picture restorer, Orazio Buggiani (b. ca 1818). Whatever the circumstance, this reframing did not result from a change in ownership.

Whistler decorated the frame that surrounds Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Battersea Reach [YMSM 119] with a painted seigaiha pattern. It was shown at the Westminster Palace exhibition in November 1878 in the painted frame. Then the painted decoration was removed and the frame regilded for Whistler's 1892 Goupil retrospective exhibition.