The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Nude study dates from about 1897.

Nude study, Library of Congress

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1489).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Nude study, Library of Congress

Unidentified.

Technique

Technique

Nude study, Library of Congress

A slight sketch of a nude body, on a scrap of thin paper used for doodling. Whistler approximated the figure, leaving dots and gaps in the outline.

Conservation History

The thin paper was folded once, vertically, and the sketch drawn on the left half.

History

Provenance

• 1897: probably given by Whistler to Elizabeth Robins Pennell (1855-1936) and Joseph Pennell (1860-1926);
• 1917: given to the Library of Congress.

See further details in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1489).

Exhibitions

It was 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. 1489) as 'Nude study'.

Websites

• Library of Congress website at https://www.loc.gov.