The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Study for 'Portrait of Miss Leyland' dates from between 1873 and 1876.

Study for 'Portrait of Miss Leyland', British Museum

The drawing was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 501).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Study for 'Portrait of Miss Leyland', British Museum

Possibly a study of Fanny Leyland (1857-1880), though she was not necessarily posing for it.

Technique

Composition

Study for 'Portrait of Miss Leyland', British Museum

Probably a study for Portrait of Miss Leyland (2) y110, a portrait that was not, as far as is known, completed.

Conservation History

The drawing was placed in an album.

History

Provenance

• 1874: given to Rachel Agnes Lucas (Mrs W. C. Alexander) (1837-1900) or William Cleverly Alexander (1840-1916), London;
• 1916: passed to their daughters Rachel Alexander (1875-1964) and Jean Ingelow Alexander (1877-1972);
• 1958: given by them to the British Museum.

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. 501) as "Study for 'Portrait of Miss Leyland' ".
• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (oil, cat. no. 110).