The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.0019
Head of a woman
Date
Head of a woman dates from between 1847 and 1848, when Whistler was in St Petersburg, Russia.
Head of a woman, private collection
It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 19).
Images
Head of a woman, private collection
Subject
Description
Head of a woman, private collection
A woman's head and shoulder, in profile to right. Her left hand rests on her right shoulder, and her right hand is holding up a piece of folded cloth.
Technique
Technique
This is probably a copy of a print or drawing, and may have been supervised or touched up by Whistler's tutor, Alexander Osipovich Koritsky (1818-1866).
Conservation History
Private information from family descendants suggests this drawing may have been destroyed.
History
Provenance
- 1847/1848: probably sent to Thomas de Kay Winans (1820-1878) and his family, in Baltimore;
- 1878: passed by family descent to a private owner;
- 1987: still owned by a relative, New York, NY;
- By 1995: possibly destroyed.
See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 19).
Exhibitions
Not exhibited at any time, as far as is known.
Bibliography
Catalogues Raisonnés
- MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 19) as 'Head of a woman'.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- Andreeva, Galina, and Margaret F. MacDonald, Whistler and Russia, State Tretyakow Gallery, Moscow, 2006, repr. p. 20.