The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The two drawings, r.: Aunt Alicia; v.: Profile of Aunt Alicia, date from 1844, and were drawn in St Petersburg. According to the inscription they were given to Kate Livermore (1820-1907).

r: Aunt Alicia, Cooper Hewitt Museum, NY

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 6). The entry has been revised.

Images

Subject

Sitter

r: Aunt Alicia, Cooper Hewitt Museum, NY

History of drawing, written by Katherine S. Dreier, Cooper Hewitt Museum, NY

Alicia Margaret Caroline McNeill (1786-1863) was one of the two older half-sisters of Whistler's mother. She was the sitter, and not 'Aunt Kate', as the document reproduced above states.

Technique

Technique

r: Aunt Alicia, Cooper Hewitt Museum, NY

The careful outlines have been gone over more than once, to correct and strengthen the drawing. Light shading and cross-hatching were used to distinguish elements of the dress, hair and bonnet.

History

Provenance

History of drawing, written by Katherine S. Dreier, Cooper Hewitt Museum, NY

• 1844: sent to Catherine Jane Palmer (1812-1877), Stonington, CT;
• Date unknown: given by her daughter Emma Woodbridge Palmer (1835-1912) to her friend, the artist Katherine Sophie Dreier (1877-1952);
• 1953: given by her sister Mary Elisabeth Dreier (1875-1963), to the Cooper Hewitt Museum.

Further details are given in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 6).

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 6) as 'r.: Aunt Alicia; v.: Profile of Aunt Alicia'.

Books on Whistler

• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, repr. p. 25 as 'Aunt Kate' [sic].