The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Man playing a guitar probably dates from 1854; it was given to Thomas de Kay Winans (1820-1878).

Man playing a guitar, Metropolitan Museum of Art

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 170).

Images

Subject

Description

Man playing a guitar, Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is one of several drawings of cavaliers, possibly inspired by a romantic novel. An earlier drawing, r.: Sir Piercie Shafton sings; v.: A woman with long hair; wheels m0066 was based on a scene from The Monastery (1820) by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832).

Technique

Technique

Man playing a guitar, Metropolitan Museum of Art

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 170).

Conservation History

This was among numerous drawings given to the Winans family and 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

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. 170) as 'Man playing a guitar'.

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.