The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Master Menpes dates from about 1885.

Master Menpes, Menpes 1904, repr. f.p. 88

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1017).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Mortimer Luddington Menpes (1860-1938) and Rosa Mary Menpes (1855-1936) had seven daughters and two sons. The family included Maud Rose Goodwin (1878-1958), Mortimer James (1879-1900), Dorothy Whistler (1883-1973), Walter (1886-1945), and Claude (1892-1963). The etching The Menpes Children [300] probably includes Maud and Dorothy, and just possibly the Menpes's fourth child, Walter (1886-1945). Their older son, Mortimer James Menpes, is not shown.

Master Menpes, Menpes 1904, repr. f.p. 88

This watercolour almost certainly shows the Menpes's fourth child, Walter Mortimer Menpes, born on 21 September 1886. In 1939 Walter married Joan Miller-Davis (1910-1945), and they had one son, Michael Mortimer Menpes; both parents died in 1945, and Michael, in 1993.

Technique

Technique

Master Menpes, Menpes 1904, repr. f.p. 88

It is known only from the photogaph reproduced above.

History

Provenance

• 1885: probably owned by the sitter's parents, Mortimer Luddington Menpes (1860-1938) and Rosa Mary Menpes (1855-1936);
• 1903: with the Leicester Galleries, London;
• 1904: owned by Rosa Mary Menpes (1855-1936).

It may be that the drawing stayed in the family after Mrs Menpes's death. It could have passed to the sitter, Walter Mortimer Menpes (1886-1945). In 1939 he married Joan Miller-Davis (1910-1945), and they had one son, Michael Mortimer Menpes (1939-1993). Joan Menpes's will was administered by Edith Winifred Hammond, Mrs Edward Holbrey Hammond (1885-1955) and by Claude Menpes (1892-1963). Claude had married Winifred Kate Smith (1886-1972) in Ontario, Canada, but had eventually returned to England. However, so far no trace of the watercolour has been found.

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1017).

Exhibitions

• 1903: An Exhibition of watercolour drawings by leading artists, Leicester Galleries, London, 1903 (cat. no. 33 as 'Master Menpes.'

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1017).

Catalogues 1855-1905

• An Exhibition of watercolour drawings by leading artists, Leicester Galleries, London, 1903 (cat. no. 33) as 'Master Menpes.'

Books on Whistler

• Menpes, Mortimer, Whistler as I Knew Him, London, 1904, repr. f.p. 88 as 'Master Menpes'.

Websites

• Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock, James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné, University of Glasgow, 2012, online website. The Menpes Children [300].