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

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YMSM 507
Harmony in Rose and Green: Carmen

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1898/1899
Collection: The Hunterian, University of Glasgow
Accession Number: GLAHA 46365
Medium: oil
Support: canvas, oval
Size: oval, 57.8 x 44.5 cm (22 3/4 x 17 1/2")
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: none

Harmony in Rose and Green: Carmen

Titles

Only one title is known, with variations only in punctuation:

  • 'Harmony in Rose & Green (Carmen)' (1903/1935, Harold Wright). 1
  • 'Harmony in Rose and Green: Carmen' (1980, YMSM). 2

'Harmony in Rose and Green: Carmen', the title given in the 1980 catalogue, is generally accepted.

Description

Harmony in Rose and Green: Carmen, The Hunterian
Harmony in Rose and Green: Carmen, The Hunterian

An oval head and shoulders portrait of a plump woman wearing a deep purplish red v-necked dress and jacket. She is in three-quarter view to right, looking at the artist/viewer with a slight smile. Her dark hair is parted in the centre, curves over her cheeks, and frames her face. The canvas is in vertical format.

Sitter

Carmen Rossi (fl. 1880/1901) . The warmth of colour and expression in her face make this more attractive than some of Whistler's portraits of Carmen Rossi, although it is not finished.

Harmony in Rose and Green: Carmen, The Hunterian
Harmony in Rose and Green: Carmen, The Hunterian
Violet and Rose: Carmen qui rit, The Hunterian
Violet and Rose: Carmen qui rit, The Hunterian

She is wearing the same dress as in Violet and Rose: Carmen qui rit [YMSM 506].

Notes:

1: Harold Wright (1885-1961). Label on verso.

2: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 507).

Last updated: 22nd October 2020 by Margaret