The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Sketch dated from 10 February 1864, and was mentioned by Anna Matilda Whistler (1804-1881) to an American friend:

'You will not tire of my reporting yet of Jemie ... he had a trying time yesterday thro its frosty fog & had to abandon his painting ... in the evening ... Jemie was inspired to begin a sketch in pencil ... at eleven we kissed each other good night, when I left him at his drawing again.' ¹

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 318).

Images

Subject

Description

There is no description in the letter written by Whistler's mother; she mentions only that it was a drawing started one evening and continued into the night. ² Whistler would have had no models available in the evening, but he may have been working on ideas for one of several figure compositions, such as Study of Draped Figures y058 or Variations in Flesh Colour and Green: The Balcony y056.

Technique

Technique

Although Whistler's mother described this as 'pencil' the term could have covered chalk or crayon drawings. ³

History

Provenance

Unknown.

Exhibitions

Unknown.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 318) as 'Sketch'.