Composition

A small preliminary sketch, Sir Henry Cole, and a list of pictures [M.0839], shows Sir Henry's head and shoulders, with a top hat over his thick white hair. In the painting he is not wearing the hat.

Technique

Except that sittings were long on time and short on action, little is known about Whistler's technique. On 17 April 1882 A. S. Cole recorded the last sitting: 'my father thought that Jimmy had merely touched the light on his shoes – and nothing else – altho' he stood and sat for over an hour and a half.' 1

Sidney Starr also recorded what he described as the last sitting: '[Whistler] put a slow decisive stroke on the right cheek-bone and then stood back. The sitting was over, and that was the last stroke he put on that canvas.' 2

Conservation History

Unknown. It was probably destroyed by Whistler. 3

Frame

Unknown.