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

Home  > Catalogue > People > John Balli (related works) > Catalogue entry

Gold and Orange: The Neighbours

Technique


                    Gold and Orange: The Neighbours, Freer Gallery of Art
Gold and Orange: The Neighbours, Freer Gallery of Art

It is very thinly painted, with the off-white underpaint showing through in places, providing the base colour for the window and foreground.

In February 1903, Whistler wrote (after the painting had been twice exhibited), "The Neighbours" is 400. guineas. This though complete, requires still a few more touches.' 1 However it is extremely unlikely, given his declining health, that he worked on it again before it was sold.

Conservation History

According to Freer Gallery of Art records, it was cleaned and resurfaced in 1923, resurfaced and cradled in 1938, and cleaned and surfaced in 1951; the website comments (2019) 'Recent cleaning has revealed the delicacy with which Whistler painted the delicious lace curtains and the crispness of the drying laundry.' 2

Frame


                    Gold and Orange: The Neighbours, Freer Gallery of Art
Gold and Orange: The Neighbours, Freer Gallery of Art

Grau-style frame, dating from ca 1900. 3

Notes:

1: Whistler to Mrs E. K. Johnson, 1 February 1903, GUW #09891.

2: Freer Gallery of Art website.

3: Dr S. L. Parkerson Day, Report on frames, 2017; see also Parkerson 2007 [more] .

Last updated: 12th November 2020 by Margaret