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

Study for 'Portrait of Miss Leyland', British Museum
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).