The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Sketch of 'Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander'was drawn about 1881 to show Matthew White Ridley (1837-1888) the composition.

Sketch of 'Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander', Private Collection

This is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 843).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Sketch of 'Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander', Private Collection

This is a sketch or memory sketch of the portrait of Cicely Henrietta Alexander (1864-1932); she would not have actually posed for the drawing.

Technique

Composition

Sketch of 'Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander', Private Collection

Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander, Tate Britain

This is a sketch or memory sketch of the oil, Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander y129. It shows her with her right leg forward instead of her left.

Technique

The swirl of the hat, drawn over the stiffly starched dress with its ruffled hem, and the essence of the little girl's upright pose, is caught with economical effectivness. The jagged lines and dots of the drawing, whilc lacking precision, are taut and lively, while angular patches of shading, some overlapping, create an effect of space, flickering light and shadows.

History

Provenance

• 1880s: given to Charles Bullen Waller (1842-1903);
• In or by 1903: passed to his daughter, Edith Emma Marzetti (1865-1924);
• 1924: passed by family descent to a private collector;
• 1990: sold to Abbott and Holder, London art dealers;
• 1990: bought by a private collector.

On 4 November 1906 Mrs Marzetti wrote to her uncle, Pickford Robert Waller (1849-1930), that she treasured 'a little pen & ink sketch of his portrait of Miss Alexander, which he made for Mr. Ridley one night at the Hogarth Club & signed with the butterfly.' ¹ But although he may have made it 'for' Matthew White Ridley (1837-1888), it was not, apparently, given to him.

Exhibitions

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. 843) as "Sketch of 'Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander' ".