The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Valentine probably dates from 1853. It was given to William Robertson Boggs (1829-1911), Adjutant of the Corps of Cadets at West Point.

Valentine, Private Collection

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 136).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Valentine, Private Collection

This probably shows Mary, a housemaid, reading a valentine from Sam Weller, in The Pickwick Papers (The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club) by Charles Dickens (1812-1870), which was first published in book form in 1837. Whistler had read the edition in the USMA library, West Point.

Technique

Technique

Valentine, detail, Private Collection

Valentine, Private Collection

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 136).

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. 136): the record has been revised.

Exhibitions

It was not, as far as is known, 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. 136) as 'Valentine'.