The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Well Sir! dates from 1852 or 1853, and was given by Whistler to Thomas de Kay Winans (1820-1878) and family.

Well Sir!, Metropolitan Museum of Art

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 109).

Images

Subject

Description

Well Sir!, Metropolitan Museum of Art

A man in a straw hat, wearing narrow trousers, waistcoat and open jacket, his arms bent assertively and hands poked into his waistcoat armholes, stands with legs apart, facing three-quarter right.

Technique

Technique

Well Sir!, Metropolitan Museum of Art

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 109).

Conservation History

Well Sir!, in Winans' Album, Metropolitan Museum of Art

The drawing was originally stuck into an album.

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. 109) as 'Well Sir!'

Journals 1906-Present

• Pressly, Nancy D., 'Whistler in America: An Album of Early Drawings', Metropolitan Museum Journal, New York, vol. 5, 1972, pp. 125-54.

Websites

• Metropolitan Museum of Art Website.