Provenance

• 1879: commissioned by Loomis Lyman Langdon (1830-1910), but not paid for, and not delivered.

William Graham (1841-1910) is the main source of information on this portrait, and described Whistler painting the portrait of Langdon's son, without any prior agreement as to the cost. Whistler told Graham that such a portrait should cost £300, but he doubted the Colonel's ability to pay it, and asked Graham to discuss it with the Colonel. The Colonel said that he had only meant Whistler to make a drawing, in return for a letter written by the Colonel to the Buffalo papers. So he did not take the portrait, and Whistler removed it. 1

Graham thought the etcher William Scott (1848-1918), who was Whistler's neighbour in Venice, might know to whom Whistler gave the oil sketch. 2

Exhibitions

None.