The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.0840
Portrait of Thomas Carlyle
Date
Portrait of Thomas Carlyle dates from before April 1881, when Whistler, according to T. R. Way, made two memory sketches of Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle y137, as a possible illustration for the Gazette des Beaux Arts, but decided that neither was suitable for the purpose. 1
Portrait of Thomas Carlyle, Freer Gallery of Art
This is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 840).
Images
Portrait of Thomas Carlyle, Freer Gallery of Art
Arrangement in Grey and Black, No.2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle , Glasgow Museums
Subject
Sitter
Portrait of Thomas Carlyle, Freer Gallery of Art
This study of Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) may have been a sketch from memory or a photograph rather than a portrait from life.
Technique
Composition
Portrait of Thomas Carlyle, Freer Gallery of Art
Arrangement in Grey and Black, No.2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle , Glasgow Museums
This may have been a sketch from memory or a photograph of Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle y137.
History
Provenance
- 1881 or later: acquired by Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913);
- 1905: bought from Way by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit, in June 1905;
- 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.
See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 840).
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. 840) as 'Portrait of Thomas Carlyle'.
Books on Whistler
- Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, repr. f.p. 171.
- Way, Thomas Robert, Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the Artist, London and New York, 1912, pp. 44-45.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 247, pl. 222.
Websites
- Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1905.154 as 'Portrait Sketch of Thomas Carlyle'.
Notes:
1: Way 1912 [more], pp. 44-45.