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

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YMSM 316
Sketch of a Man in Evening Dress

Artist: Formerly attributed to James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1885/1900
Collection: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Accession Number: WA1945.139
Medium: oil
Support: wood
Size: 16.1 x 9.7 cm (6 3/8 x 3 3/4")
Signature: none
Inscription: none

Sketch of a Man in Evening Dress

Titles

The suggested title is:

  • 'Sketch of a Man in Evening Dress' (1980, YMSM). 1

Description

Sketch of a Man in Evening Dress, Ashmolean Museum
Sketch of a Man in Evening Dress, Ashmolean Museum

A small unfinished full-length portrait of a man in black evening dress, against a pale grey background. His features are not defined at all. The man has his arms crossed; his feet fade away into points.

Sitter

For some completely obscure reason the actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1852-1917) has been suggested as the sitter, but the features are not recognisable and he is not known to have been painted by Whistler.

Notes:

1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 316).

Last updated: 16th October 2020 by Margaret