The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Blue Dress dates from 1872/1874.

The Blue Dress, Freer Gallery of Art

The drawing is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no 468).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Probably a study of Lady Clementine Redesdale (1854-1932), or possibly Frances Leyland (1834-1910) or her sister Elizabeth Dawson (b. 1840).

Technique

Composition

The Blue Dress, Freer Gallery of Art

Possibly a study for the Portrait of Lady Redesdale y189.

History

Provenance

• 1870s: possibly acquired by Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892);
• 1892: possibly sold at auction, Christie's, London, 28 May 1892 (lot 5) as 'Portrait of a Lady', and bought by Edmund F. Deprez (1851-1915), London dealer;
• 1892: bought from Wunderlich, New York art dealers, by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919);
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no 468).

Exhibitions

It was not, as far as is known, 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 468) as 'The Blue Dress'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

SALE:

• Christie's, London, 28 May 1892 (lot 5) as 'Portrait of a Lady'.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 251, pl. 229.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1892.24a-b.