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

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Arrangement in Yellow: Portrait of Lily Langtry

Arrangement in Yellow: Portrait of Lily Langtry dates from 1881. 1

In September 1881 Whistler wrote, 'Mrs Langtry is in Town and on Sunday came to breakfast - great success - there were fourteen of us in all! - I am to begin her portrait on Thursday - an arrangement in yellow.' 2 Mrs Langtry wrote much later that 'the numerous sittings were, I think, enjoyed by both of us ... I wonder what became of that unfinished picture and the yellow robe in which he was painting me? Both are still in existence I fancy.' 3

Notes:

1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 227).

2: Whistler to H. E. Whistler, [September 1881], GUW #06694.

3: Langtry, Lily, The Days I Knew, London, 1925, pp. 63, 67, 143.

Last updated: 9th November 2019 by Margaret