The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.0023
Man wearing spectacles
Date
Man wearing spectacles probably dates from between 1853 and 1855. 1
Man wearing spectacles, Metropolitan Museum of Art
It is difficult to date, but the period between 1853 and 1855 is stylistically most likely. It was given by Whistler to Thomas de Kay Winans (1820-1878), probably just before Whistler left America in 1855.
Images
Man wearing spectacles, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Subject
Sitter
Man wearing spectacles, Metropolitan Museum of Art
It is likely that this drawing was done while Whistler was still in America, but the sitter has not been identified. It has been suggested that the sitter was Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910), although he is usually depicted with more hair and without glasses. 2
Technique
Technique
The head was drawn carefully with a combination of repeated outlines, angular lines and zigzag shading, the planes of the face defined with patches of shading. The face was strongly lit from above, and there are dark accents marking the shadows as well as the man's spectacles. Broader, softer, zigzags provide some sense of surrounding space.
Man wearing spectacles, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Although it was suggested that this was a portrait of Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910), possibly touched up by him, it is more likely to have been drawn in America. It may date from Whistler's time at USMA, and have been touched up by a master at West Point, such as Robert Walter Weir (1803-1889).
Conservation History
The edges are irregular; the sheet was stuck onto p. 16 of an album belonging to the family of Thomas de Kay Winans (1820-1878). It is a little browned.
History
Provenance
- 1853/1854: given to Thomas de Kay Winans (1820-1878) and family;
- 1878-1970: passed by family descent to his daughter Celeste Marguerite Winans (Mrs G. M. Hutton) (1855-1925), her daughter Lucette Marguerite Hutton, Mrs H. A. Prichard (1885-1957), and grand-daughters, Margaret Celeste Prichard, Mrs T. A. Buell (1908-1970), Helen Lucette Prichard, Mrs J. M. King (1913-2005), and Sybil Agnes Prichard, Mrs E. G. Walk (1915-2009);
- 1970: given by Margaret C. Buell, Helen L. King, and Sybil A. Walk to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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. 23) 'Man wearing spectacles'.
Websites
- Metropolitan Museum of Art website as 'Head of a man'.
Notes:
1: It is dated '1848/1858' in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 23).
2: In, for instance, his etched self portrait of 1862, National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG D35104. A wider date range, now discounted, raised the possibility of the sitter being Haden, as suggested in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more].