The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Maison, Rue Orbe dates from 1857/1858.

Maison, Rue Orbe, private collection

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 224), but the inscription was incorrectly transcribed. This record has been updated.

Images

Subject

Site

Maison, Rue Orbe, private collection

This is the shop of a joiner or carpenter. There is a Rue Orbe in Rouen and another in Bayonne. It is likely this is in Rouen, an important city on the River Seine, capital of the region of Normandy.

Technique

Conservation History

According to the owner, Whistler gave her some 'trivial sketches', which she put in an album he had brought from Paris, 'with my name in gold, stamped outside', possibly at Christmas 1858. ¹ These may have been removed and framed later, because she lent 'A frame of ten early pencil sketches' to the Whistler Memorial exhibition in 1905 (cat. no. 207), and these were unmounted and dispersed at a later date

History

Provenance

• 1857/1858: given to Annie Harriet Haden (1848-1937);
• After 1905: several drawings owned by Annie Haden (Mrs Thynne), probably including this, were dispersed at an unknown date.
• Date unknown: according to Christie's, several drawings were bought in Paris by a collector, passed to his daughter, who lived in South America, came into the possession of a gallery in South America and were sold when it closed down.
• 1972: collection of Mrs M. Rossink, sold at auction, Christie's, London, 19 December 1972 (lot 89, repr.) bought by I. D. Gale, art dealer, and sold to a private collector.
• 2008-09: with the Spanierman Gallery, New York.
• 2013: sold at auction, Swann, New York, 5 November 2013 (lot 15) as 'Maison, Rue Orbe, Rouen.'

Exhibitions

• 1905: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 207) as 'A frame of ten early pencil sketches.'

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 224) as 'Maison, Rue Orbe'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 207) as 'A frame of ten early pencil sketches.'

Catalogues 1906-Present

EXHIBITION:

• 'Works on Paper,' Spanierman Gallery, New York, 2008-2009 (cat. no. 5, repr.).

SALE:

• Swann, New York, 5 November 2013 (lot 15) as 'Maison, Rue Orbe, Rouen.'