The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
YMSM 001
The Artist's Niece
Date
The Artist's Niece dates from 1849.
The Artist's Niece, 1849, The Hunterian
Whistler's niece Annie was born on 14 December 1848. She appears in this portrait to be under two years of age.
Shortly after her birth Whistler made a pencil drawing of her, and planned, as he told his mother, Anna Matilda Whistler (1804-1881), to do another:
'How you would like to see the Babie, dear mother, her hair has grown and is going to be of a pretty flaxen colour and Sis intends it to be curly … I began a sketch of her which Seymour [Haden] finished and made really very like her; when I have done a nice likeness all by myself, I shall send it to St Petersburg, that you may form some faint idea of little Annie before you see her.' 1
The result may be this portrait, painted in London in 1849 before Whistler returned to America with his family.
Images
The Artist's Niece, 1849, The Hunterian
Ma Nièce, 1849, The Hunterian
Subject
Titles
Whistler's original title is not known. The sole recorded title is as follows:
- 'The Artist's Niece' (1905, ISSPG). 2
- 'The Artist's Niece' (1980, YMSM). 3
Description
The Artist's Niece, 1849, The Hunterian
The head of a young child with curly shoulder-length blonde hair, against a bright blue background. Her eyes are closed and she looks rather lopsided. The portrait is unfinished.
Sitter
Annie Harriet Haden (1848-1937) , later Mrs Charles Thynne.
Annie was the eldest daughter of the surgeon and etcher Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910) and Whistler's half-sister, Deborah Delano Haden (1825-1908).
Annie was born on 14 December 1848. Whistler told his mother: 'How you would like to see the Babie … her hair has grown and is going to be of a pretty flaxen colour and Sis intends it to be curly, so that she is to be the pretty Miss Haden.' 4
Ma Nièce, 1849, The Hunterian
Whistler made a pencil sketch ('Ma Nièce' m0021) and planned to do another portrait, possibly this painting, before he returned to America. After his return to Europe in 1855, Annie posed for several later paintings including At the Piano y024 and Harmony in Green and Rose: The Music Room y034 and etchings including Annie Haden with Books [6] and Annie [7].
Although he was fond of them, after a quarrel between Whistler and Haden in 1867 it was difficult for Whistler to see his sister or her children.
Comments
A portrait, inscribed and signed 'To Annie.- Whistler', and now in the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, was lent by Jérôme Doucet to the Paris Memorial Exhibition of 1903 (cat. no. 31) as 'Portrait de Miss Annie Haden'; but neither the compilers of the 1980 catalogue, nor this, consider that the sitter was Annie, nor its author Whistler. 5
Technique
Technique
The Artist's Niece, 1849, The Hunterian
This is an unfinished sketch, freely painted with flicking, loose brush-strokes. It was painted on paper; the top of the sheet is unpainted.
Since there are no other known oils of this period it is difficult to be sure of its date or authenticity. Although its provenance is impeccable, it could well have been painted by another artist and given to Whistler or his mother.
Conservation History
Unknown. A vertical split is visible to left of her nose.
Frame
Dark wood, 48.4 x 35.6 x 1.2 cm.
History
Provenance
- 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to his ward and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
- 1935: given by Miss R. Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow.
Because of the small scale and unfinished nature of this sketch, it would almost certainly have been set aside and not included in works to be sold at the time of Whistler's bankruptcy.
Exhibitions
- 1905: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 31) as 'The Artist's Niece'.
It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime. It was first shown at the Whistler Memorial Exhibition in 1905.
By the terms of Miss R. Birnie Philip's gift to the University of Glasgow in 1935, the painting cannot be lent.
Bibliography
Catalogues Raisonnés
- Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 1), plate 1, as 'The Artist's Niece'.
Authored by Whistler
- None.
Catalogues 1855-1905
- The International Society of Sculptors, Painters, and Gravers (ed.), Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the Late J. McNeill Whistler, London, 1905 (cat. no. 31) as 'The Artist's Niece'.
Journals 1855-1905
- None.
Monographs
- None.
Books on Whistler
- Cabanne, Pierre, Whistler, Bergamo, 1985, pp. 24, 92.
- Spencer, Robin (ed.), Whistler: A Retrospective, New York, 1989, p. 37.
Books, General
- None.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- None.
Journals 1906-Present
- Pressly, Nancy D., 'Whistler in America: An Album of Early Drawings', Metropolitan Museum Journal, New York, vol. 5, 1972, pp. 125-54, p. 50 (no. 8).
Websites
- The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk/#/details/ecatalogue/41192.
- Art UK website at https://artuk.org.
Unpublished
- None.
Other
- None.
Notes:
1: J. Whistler to A. M. Whistler, [17] March 1849, GUW #06390; The Hunterian, University of Glasgow, GLAHA 46005; 'Ma Nièce' m0021.
2: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 31).
3: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 1).
4: J. Whistler to A. M. Whistler, [17] March 1849, GUW #06390.
5: National Museum of Western Art website at http://collection.nmwa.go.jp. YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 1).