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

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Chelsea Houses

Technique


                    Chelsea Houses, Stanford University
Chelsea Houses, Stanford University

There are traces of pencil work under the paint, around the windows and door. It is very thinly painted. The brushstrokes are curiously tentative except for the grey foreground, where long squarish strokes give a curiously uneven appearance.

Conservation History


                    Chelsea Houses, photograph, 1957
Chelsea Houses, photograph, 1957

                    Chelsea Houses, photograph, 1980
Chelsea Houses, photograph, 1980

                    Chelsea Houses, Stanford University , 2015
Chelsea Houses, Stanford University , 2015

                    Chelsea Houses, photograph, 2016
Chelsea Houses, photograph, 2016

Early photographs show extensive fine craquelure. Different photographs give very different impressions of the painting, and this may be due to lighting, but they suggest that it has darkened. The two figures painted thinly in black on the left have become very faint.

Frame


                    Chelsea Houses, frame, detail
Chelsea Houses, frame, detail

Wooden frame, not original.

Last updated: 22nd October 2020 by Margaret