The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Captain Cuttle dates from 1853/1854; it was given to Thomas de Kay Winans (1820-1878).

Captain Cuttle, Metropolitan Museum of Art

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 147).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Captain Cuttle, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Captain Cuttle was a character from Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son, by Charles Dickens (1812-1870), first published in 1847-1848. Whistler read the Philadelphia edition of 1850-1 in the USMA Library in 1852-1853.

Technique

Conservation History

Captain Cuttle, in Winans' album, Metropolitan Museum of Art

The original owners stuck this and other sketches into an albumm (p. 14).

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, 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. 147) as 'Captain Cuttle'.

Websites

• Metropolitan Museum of Art website