The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Violet Note dates from 1885/1886 and was signed in October/November 1886.

The Violet Note, I.S. Gardner Museum

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1081).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Carter suggested that the model was 'Lyse Vazaeti'. ¹ No such person has been identified.

The same fan is seen in Blue and Violet. Lapis Lazuli m1070, which was also purchased by Mrs Gardner.

Technique

Technique

The Violet Note, I. S. Gardner Museum

See discussion in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1081).

History

Provenance

• 1886: sold by Whistler to Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924), Boston, 30-31October 1886; ²
• 1924: bequeathed to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Full details are in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1081).

Exhibitions

• 1899: Art Exhibition, Mrs John L. Gardner, 152 Beacon Street, Boston, 1899, p. 8 (cat. no. 22).

Although Whistler apparently wished to exhibit it, there is no record of him doing so. ³

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1081) as 'A Violet Note'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Art Exhibition, Mrs John L. Gardner, 152 Beacon Street, Boston, 1899, p. 8 (cat. no. 22).

Books, General

• Carter, Morris, Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court, Boston and New York, 1925, p. 103.
• Chong, Alan, et al. (eds), Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 2003, p. 201, repr.

Websites

• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum website at https://www.gardnermuseum.org.