The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Wapping, Library of Congress

Wapping was drawn in a letter to Ignace-Henri-Jean-Théodore Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) in the first half of 1861. ¹ It is an early sketch of the oil painting Wapping y035, which was started in 1860 and completed in 1864.

For more information, see MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 299).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Wapping, Library of Congress

The woman, though barely recogniseable, is Joanna Hiffernan (b. ca 1843-d.1886).

Technique

Composition

Wapping, Library of Congress

Wapping, National Gallery of Art

This is an early sketch for the composition of Wapping y035. It was drawn in a letter, and the hand-writing overlaps and shows through the drawing. The relevant part of the letter starts:

'... je voudrais t'avoir ici devant un tableau sur lequel je compte bigrement et qui doit devenir un chef d'oeuvre - voici à peu pres ce que c'est. [drawing] … je tacherai de te l'expliquer - D'abord on est dans un balcon au premier etage, donant en plein sur la Tamise. Il y a trois personnes - un vieux en chemise blanche celui du milieu qui regarde par la fenetre - puis à droite dans le coin, un matelot en casquette et en chemise bleu à grand col rabattu d'un bleu plus clair, qui cause avec une fille bigrement difficile a peindre! … Maintenant par la fenetre on voit toute la Tamise! Le fond qui est comme une eau forte - et qui etait difficile à ne pas y croire!' ²

[Translation:] '… I would like you to be here in front of a picture which I am quite certain must become a masterpiece - here is more or less what it is like. [drawing] ... I will try to explain it - Firstly it is on a balcony right above the Thames. There are three people - an old man in a white shirt the one in the middle who is looking out of the window - then on the right in the corner, a sailor in a cap and a blue shirt with a big collar turned back in a lighter blue, who is chatting to a girl who is really difficult to paint! … Now through the window you can see the whole Thames! The background is like an etching - and was unbelievably difficult!'

Technique

The letter is written on all four sides of a folded sheet, the drawing being on the first side. The ink lines are bold and scratchy, and have blotted.

History

Provenance

• 1861: sent to Ignace-Henri-Jean-Théodore Fantin-Latour (1836-1904), Paris.
• 1905/1908: owned by George Aloysius Lucas (1824-1909), Paris.
• Before 1936: acquired by Elizabeth Robins Pennell (1855-1936);
• 1936: E. R. and J. Pennell Collection, Library of Congress.

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. 299) as 'Wapping'.
• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 35), oil, 'Wapping'.

Books on Whistler

• MacDonald, Margaret F. (ed.) The Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan and James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and Washington, 2020.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Joanna Dunn, and Joyce H. Townsend, 'Painting Joanna Hiffernan', in Margaret F. MacDonald (ed.), The Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan and James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and Washington, 2020, pp. 33-45.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• MacDonald, Margaret F. (ed.), The Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan and James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and Washington, 2020 (exhibition rescheduled to 2022).

Websites

• The Correspondence of James McNeill Whistler, 1855-1903, edited by Margaret F. MacDonald, Patricia de Montfort and Nigel Thorp; including The Correspondence of Anna McNeill Whistler, 1855-1880, edited by Georgia Toutziari. Online edition, University of Glasgow. GUW #08042.