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Titles
Several possible titles have been suggested:
- 'Robin Hood's Bay (Blue & Gold)' (1901, R. B. Philip). 1
- 'On the Normandy Coast' (1904, Copley Society, Boston). 2
- 'Robin Hood Bay' (1908, Pennell). 3
- 'Blue and Gold: Robin Hood's Bay' (1980, YMSM). 4
'Blue and Gold: Robin Hood's Bay' is the preferred title. It is in England, not Normandy.
Description
Blue and Gold: Robin Hood's Bay, Whereabouts unknown
A beach scene in horizontal format. In the foreground a figure is stooping to look at something on the beach; several more people are walking along the edge of the sea. On the beach at left is a tall pole. The horizon is well above centre. White waves are breaking on the beach, and two ships are visible in the distance.
Site
Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire, England, UK. An early photograph (a silver gelatin print by William Edward Gray, 92 Queen's Road, Bayswater) in the Glasgow University Library is inscribed, not in Whistler's hand, 'Robin Hoods' Bay'. 5 The bay is five miles south-east of Whitby, Yorkshire. Although Whistler painted a small panel in Yorkshire about 1884 (Note in Green: Wortley [YMSM 303]) there is no record of a later visit.
The title change in 1905-1905, when it was owned by H. H. Benedict, is incorrect, as it does not show the Normandy coast.
Notes:
1: GUL Whistler BP II Ledger c, pp. 5-6.
2: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 7).
3: Pennell 1908 [more] , vol. 2, repr. f.p. 214.
4: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 424).
5: GB 247 Whistler PH4/58. University of Glasgow, University Collections at http://collections.gla.ac.uk.
Last updated: 7th June 2021 by Margaret
