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

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r.: Woman's head, house, door; v.: Design for Address to Queen Victoria

Composition


                    v: Design for Address to Queen Victoria, Library of Congress
v: Design for Address to Queen Victoria, Library of Congress

Whistler prepared a congratulatory Address from the Society of British Artists to Queen Victoria (1819-1901) on the occasion of her Jubilee in 1887. The drawing on the verso of this sheet shows a ship in full sail, sailing into the sunset.


                    Address to Queen Victoria, photo, Glasgow University Library
Address to Queen Victoria, photo, Glasgow University Library

The final version of the composition, (a) Monogram 'VR'; (b) Address to Queen Victoria; (c) Royal Coat of Arms [M.1132], contained a more stylised ship.

Technique


                    r.: Woman's head, house, door, Library of Congress
r.: Woman's head, house, door, Library of Congress

The woman in profile, wearing a low cut dress, was drawn with fine pointed, twitchy pen work, with little patches of shading and cross hatching; behind her, the jerky vertical shading of a house at a corner looks like certain Whistler drawings (i.e. Nocturne [M.0912]) and etchings (The Dance House: Nocturne [455], Little Nocturne, Amsterdam [456]). At the top of the page, the tall doors, with a woman and child in front, were roughly drawn, again, mostly with vertical lines, the design a little reminiscent of Whistler's etchings of Tours and Bourges (Windows, Bourges [398], Courtyard, Rue P. L. Courier, Tours [391], dating from the Whistler's honeymoon in 1888. This raises the possibility that some of these drawings – particularly the head of a woman – were by Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896).

Conservation History

The sketches on the recto are small, and detailed, drawn on thick paper which has been folded in half horizontally.

Last updated: 21st February 2021 by Margaret