The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Lancer dates from 1855. It was given by Whistler to a fellow-draughtsman at the US Coast and Geodetic Survey in Washington DC, John Ross Key (1837-1920).

Lancer, Art Institute Of Chicago

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 199).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Lancer, Art Institute Of Chicago

Unknown. This may have been based on a book on soldiers' uniforms.

Technique

Technique

Lancer, Art Institute Of Chicago

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 199).

History

Provenance

• 1855: given by Whistler to a fellow-draughtsman at the US Coast and Geodetic Survey in Washington DC, John Ross Key (1837-1920);
• 1896: possibly sold by Key to Frederick Keppel (1845-1912), New York dealer;
• 1906: Keppel and Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), New York dealer, showed several drawings, possibly including this, to Joseph Pennell (1860-1926).
• 1927: bequeathed by Charles Deering (1852-1927) to the Art Institute of Chicago.

For further details, see MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 199).

Exhibitions

• 1896: Frederick Keppel, Chicago, 1896 (no cat. no.).

It was reproduced in the Chicago Times Herald, 8 March 1896, p. 30.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 199) as 'Lancer'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Frederick Keppel, Chicago, 1896 (no cat. no.).

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Chicago Times Herald, 8 March 1896, repr. p. 30.

Books on Whistler

• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, p. 46.

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, at p. 153, no. 71.

Websites

• Clarke, Jay A., and Sarah Kelly Oehler, eds., Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020, website.
• Strother, Stephanie L., 'Early Drawings (Cats. 1–5)' in Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020, URL (cat. no. 4).