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

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YMSM 166
Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Gardens

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1875/1876
Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Accession Number: 06.286
Medium: oil
Support: canvas
Size: 63.8 x 77.2 cm (25 1/8 x 30 3/8")
Signature: none
Inscription: none
Frame: Grau Whistler, 1892 [17.2 cm]

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Gardens

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Gardens probably dates from between 1875 and 1876. 1

On 18 September 1875 Whistler's mother mentioned that he had been painting 'Moonlight pictures ... one lately finished of Cremorne Gardens at Chelsea.' 2

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Gardens, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Gardens, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

On 10 April 1876 the New York Herald mentioned among Whistler's current work, 'a dim nocturne, Cremorne Gardens, seen by starlight and the fitful gleam of fireworks', which may have been this painting. 3

Letters to the art dealer David Croal Thomson (1855-1930) in 1892 suggest that Whistler wanted a Cremorne Nocturne, possibly this, cleaned by Stephen Richards (1844-1900) and sent to his Paris studio so that he could paint on it, but it is not known if he did so. 4

Notes:

1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 166).

2: A. M. Whistler to J. H. and H. Gamble, 9-20 September 1875, GUW #06555.

3: 'American Artists in London, What they have done for Philadelphia', New York Herald, New York, 10 April 1876, p. 5. Press cutting in GUL Whistler PC 2, p. 2.

4: [6 June 1892], GUW #08337.

Last updated: 19th April 2021 by Margaret