Titles

Whistler's original title is not known. The only title that has been suggested is:

• 'Portrait of Teresa Cerutti' (1980, YMSM). 1

Description

Described by the sitter as 'a bust, full face, in city dress of dark violet, with Venetian lace covering the collar. It was hatless, with my hair at the sides, "en bandeau," or, as Mr. Whistler so often said, "a la Botticelli".' 2

Sitter

Teresa Cerutti (fl. 1897-1900). was an Italian singer and artist. 3 She asserted that she had refused to take one of Whistler's portraits of her, because 'they did not look like me, but like my aunt in Italy'. 4 At this date, Whistler was very well known, and it seems very odd indeed that any model would reject the chance to acquire a portrait by him.

There is another tenuous link between Whistler and Cerutti. After an unfortunate first marriage, in 1910 Cerutti married Will Simmons, son of the mural painter Edward Simmons who took over Whistler's Paris studio in the Rue Notre Dame des Champs after 1903. It is therefore just possible that Simmons was in contact with Whistler before this date.