The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

(a) Monogram 'VR'; (b) Address to Queen Victoria; (c) Royal Coat of Arms dates from 1887. The complete Address, designed and partly illustrated by Whistler, was sent on behalf of the Society of British Artists to Queen Victoria (1819-1901) about 22/23 July 1887. ¹

Address to Queen Victoria, photo, Glasgow University Library

The Address was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1132).

Images

Subject

Description

Address to Queen Victoria, photo, Glasgow University Library

According to the Pennells, on 9 August 1900 Whistler gave them an account of the creation of an Address to Queen Victoria:

'First came this beautiful binding in yellow morocco, and the inscription to Her Majesty, every word just in the right place, most wonderful. You opened it, and on the first page you found a beautiful little drawing of the royal arms that I made myself; the second page, an etching of Windsor ... On the third page, the address began.

I made decorations all round the text in water-colour - at the top, the towers of Windsor, down one side, a great battleship, plunging through the waves, and below the sun that never sets on the British Empire ... The following pages were not decorated, just the most wonderful address, explaining the age and dignity of the Society, its devotion to Her Glorious, Gracious Majesty, and suggesting the honour it would be if this could be recognised by a title that would show the Society to belong especially to Her. Then the last page. Then you turned, and there was a little etching of my house in Chelsea.' ²

Technique

Composition

Address to Queen Victoria, photo, Glasgow University Library

According to the Pennells, on 9 August 1900 Whistler gave them an account of the creation of the Address to Queen Victoria, on behalf of the Society of British Artists, when he was President, in 1887:

'I found that the Academy and the Institute, and the rest of them were preparing addresses to the Queen, and so I went to work too, and I prepared a most wonderful address. Instead of the illuminated performances for such occasions, I took a dozen sheets of my old Dutch paper. I had them bound by Zaensdorf. Amazing! First came this beautiful binding in yellow morocco, and the inscription to Her Majesty, every word just in the right place, most wonderful. You opened it, and on the first page you found a beautiful little drawing of the royal arms that I made myself; the second page, an etching of Windsor, as though, "here's where you live." On the third page, the address began.

I made decorations all round the text in water-colour - at the top, the towers of Windsor, down one side, a great battleship, plunging through the waves, and below the sun that never sets on the British Empire - What? The following pages were not decorated, just the most wonderful address, explaining the age and dignity of the Society, its devotion to Her Glorious, Gracious Majesty, and suggesting the honour it would be if this could be recognised by a title that would show the Society to belong especially to Her. Then the last page. Then you turned, and there was a little etching of my house in Chelsea - "And now that's where I live!" And then you closed it, and on the back of the cover was the Butterfly. This was all done and was well on its way, and not a word said to the Society, … all the time my beautiful address was on its way to Windsor, and, finally came the Queen's acknowledgement and Her command that the Society should be called Royal. Well, I carried this to a meeting, ... I got up with great solemnity and I announced the honour conferred upon them by Her Gracious Majesty. They jumped up and rushed towards me with outstretched hands. But I waved them all back, and continued with the ceremonial to which they objected ... But, the meeting over, I sent for champagne.' ³

Technique

Whistler started the album with an illuminated monogram, similar to that embossed on the leather cover, and ended it with the Royal arms. The photographs of the illustrations have faded, so that it is difficult to make out his work, but it seems that Whistler made the watercolour illuminations, while Edward Desiré Mitchell (1849-1913), a heraldic artist, did the lettering. On 17 May 1887 Whistler sent a cheque for 35.6.0. to Mitchell at the Herald's College 'for the work you have so perfectly and tastefully done for me-/ Nothing could be more artistic in execution or more intelligent in carrying out my intention than your part in this Memorial.' ⁴

Conservation History

The Album cannot be located.

History

Provenance

• 1887: designed and illustrated by Whistler, on behalf of the Society of British Artists, on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Jubilee;

• 1887: it was presented to the Queen, on behalf of Whistler and the Society of British Artists, by the Secretary of State, Henry Matthews (1868-1874), in July 1887, and passed to the Royal Collection, Windsor;
• By 1994: not located.

It was still said to be in the Royal Collection, Windsor, in 1921. ⁵

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. 1132) as '(a) Monogram 'VR'; (b) Address to Queen Victoria; (c) Royal Coat of Arms'.

Books on Whistler

• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 2, pp. 65-67.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 5th (revised) edition, London and Philadelphia, 1911, repr. f.p. 320 as 'Jubilee Memorial from the Society of British Artists to Queen Victoria'.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins and Pennell, Joseph, 'Whistler as Decorator', Century Magazine, vol. 83, February 1912, pp. 500-13, cover and tailpiece repr. p. 510.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, pp. 176-7, repr. f.p. 176 as 'First Page of the Memorial to Queen Victoria.'

Websites

• The Correspondence of James McNeill Whistler, 1855-1903, edited by Margaret F. MacDonald, Patricia de Montfort and Nigel Thorp; including The Correspondence of Anna McNeill Whistler, 1855-1880, edited by Georgia Toutziari. Online edition, University of Glasgow, 2003-2004, GUW #13568.