The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Study for 'Portrait of Miss Leyland' dates from between 1873 and 1874 and was acquired by William Cleverly Alexander (1840-1916).

Study for 'Portrait of Miss Leyland', British Museum

The drawing was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 502).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Study for 'Portrait of Miss Leyland', British Museum

Probably 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

This was probably a study for Portrait of Miss Leyland (1) y109, which was not completed.

Conservation History

The drawing was placed in an album.

History

Provenance

• Date unknown: acquired by William Cleverly Alexander (1840-1916), London;
• 1916: passed to his daughters Rachel Alexander (1875-1964) and Jean Ingelow Alexander (1877-1972);
• 1958: given by them to the British Museum.

Further, slightly confusing, provenance is discussed in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 502).

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. 502) 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. 109).