The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Connoisseurs in a studio dates from between November 1854 and February 1855.

Connoisseurs in a studio, private collection

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 186).

Images

Subject

Site

Connoisseurs in a studio, private collection

Artist's studio, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Family tradition names the artist as James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), and the 'connoisseurs' as the sons of Johnson Hellen (1800-1867), a lawyer in Washington, DC. However, the men shown in the drawing appear too old for even the eldest of Hellen's large family: Benjamin Johnson Hellen would have been 24 or 25 years old and G. Clifton Hellen, 18 or 19. One of the figures, a bearded man in a hat, appears in anothert drawing, Artist's studio m0185.

Technique

Technique

Connoisseurs in a studio, private collection

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 186).

History

Provenance

• 1854/1855: owned by a private collector, and passed by family descent.

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 186).

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. 186) as 'Connoisseurs in a studio'.