The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.0124
Plebs Policing
Date
Plebs Policing was drawn at West Point in 1852 or 1853 and was given to William Robertson Boggs (1829-1911).
Plebs Policing, Private Collection
It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 124).
Images
Plebs Policing, Private Collection
Subject
Sitter
Plebs Policing, Private Collection
Cadets at the Unites States Military Academy at West Point. They seem to be attacking a man and planning to put him in a wheelbarrow. At right is another figure in a cage (not necessarily drawn by Whistler) with a senior uniformed man sitting in front of the cage, to right.
Technique
Technique
Plebs Policing, Private Collection
See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 124).
History
Provenance
- 1852/1853: given to William Robertson Boggs (1829-1911);
- 1911: bequeathed to his daughter, Mrs William Barret Taylor, née Elizabeth McCaw Boggs (1857-1922), Winston, NC;
- 1922: bequeathed to her daughter, Mrs Ralph Long née Cornelia Storrs Taylor (1895-1972), Wilmington, NC;
- 1972-present: passed by family descent to a private collection.
See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 124): the record has been revised.
Exhibitions
As far as is known, 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. 124) as 'Plebs Policing'.