Nocturne in Blue and Silver dates from 1871 or 1872. 1
Nocturne in Blue and Silver, Fogg Art Museum
It is dated from the technique and the form of the butterfly monogram on a cartouche at lower right. According to Whistler, speaking at the time of the Whistler v. Ruskin trial in 1878, he 'completed the mass of the picture in one day.' 2
It was given by Whistler to Frances Leyland (1834-1910) and was in the Leyland home at Speke Hall, near Liverpool, by November 1872. 3
Nocturne in Blue and Silver, Fogg Art Museum
Nocturne in Blue and Silver, photograph, 1980
Nocturne in Blue and Silver, photograph, 1970s
Nocturne in Blue and Silver, Fogg Art Museum
Nocturne in Blue and Silver, frame detail
Grey and Silver: Old Battersea Reach, Art Institute of Chicago
Several titles have been suggested:
'Nocturne in Blue and Silver' is the preferred title.
Nocturne in Blue and Silver, Fogg Art Museum
An evening scene in horizontal format, showing the view across a broad river. The river recedes into the distance at upper right. In the distance are warehouses, factory chimneys and spoil heaps, and one church spire. In the lower right foreground are a few green leaves.
Grey and Silver: Old Battersea Reach, Art Institute of Chicago
Nocturne in Blue and Silver, Fogg Art Museum
The River Thames in London, showing the Battersea shore from Lindsey Row in Chelsea, and including the slag heap of the plumbago works and the spire of Battersea Church, as seen in several other oils including, for instance, Grey and Silver: Old Battersea Reach y046.
Harvard Art Museums website comments:
'An American living in Britain, Whistler was among the most progressive artists in the West in the late nineteenth century. He believed that works of art should function as musical compositions, through evocation and suggestion rather than description. With its muted, blue-gray tones and diluted paints, Nocturne in Blue and Silver exemplifies the artist’s radically reductive style. Though the painting depicts an industrial section of the Thames, it is less a record of a place than an exploration of atmosphere, color, and tone.' 11
Pentimenti of three inverted chimneys and a spire, upside down at lower left, suggest that Whistler originally began the picture with the canvas the other way up.
Nocturne in Blue and Silver, Fogg Art Museum
According to Whistler, speaking at the time of the Whistler v. Ruskin trial in 1878, he 'completed the mass of the picture in one day.' 12 The New York Semi-Weekly Tribune reported Whistler as saying 'he began and completed [it] in a day, after having arranged the thing in his mind.' 13
It is thinly painted on a cradled wooden panel. The Harvard website comments, 'With its muted, blue-gray tones and diluted paints, Nocturne in Blue and Silver exemplifies the artist’s radically reductive style.' 14
On the water and sky, the brushstrokes sweep from left to right, across the width of the canvas. The factory chimneys were painted over the sky, but the silhouettes of the factories and warehouses on the horizon were redefined in places. The leaves in the foreground were painted with very thin, almost translucent strokes of a pointed brush.
An illuminating exhibition and catalogue by Marc Simpson explored the technical skills used by Whistler to paint his Nocturnes, with this Nocturne cited as an example of the artist's early style, when the brushstrokes are clearly visible, compared to the extremely soft, blurred surfaces of a later Nocturne in Blue and Silver y151. 15
Nocturne in Blue and Silver, photograph, 1980
Nocturne in Blue and Silver, Fogg Art Museum
Photographs suggest the painting has not suffered any serious damage or deterioration.
By 1872: the painting probably had a frame similar to that on Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Chelsea y103 decorated with the painted seigaiha.
1878: At the Grosvenor Gallery, the art critic of the Morning Post wondered whether the titles of paintings referred to the frames: 'The fancy subjects are equally puzzling. What is meant by a Nocturne in black and gold? (4), and what by a Nocturne in blue and silver? (5). One of these things has a silver frame, the other a gold one.' 16
According to Frances Leyland (1834-1910), quoted by Elizabeth Robins Pennell (1855-1936), on 26 October 1903:
'It was her nocturne that was brought into court in the place of Mrs. Wyndham’s, which she insists was the one Ruskin wrote about. Mrs. Wyndham was away, and hers was sent down from Speke Hall, and she was furious because it was taken into court without the frame, and the frame was painted by Whistler – with blue waves, carrying out and completing the design. It got so battered afterwards she had it gilded over.' 17
This suggests that the original frame was re-gilded some time after 1878.
1892: The painting probably received a new frame made by Frederick Henry Grau (1859-1892) during preparations for the Goupil Gallery exhibition, when Whistler instructed the manager, D. C. Thomson:
‘Mrs Leyland – Get her Nocturne so that no time may be lost – for cleaning varnishing & framing. My man Grau to frame & glaze it without referring the matter to Mrs L - Indeed in several cases I shall have frames made on my own account - taking them off afterwards.’ 18
Thus Mrs Leyland’s picture was probably reframed in a reeded Grau frame, but it is not known if the original frame was replaced following the exhibition.
1910-1930: It is not known how the painting was framed after Mrs Leyland's death, when it went into American collections.
ca 1930: It is currently surrounded by a Grau-style frame made by M. Grieve of New York City about 1930, which bears the label of the Grieve Company. [FD] 25 ½ x 32 (64.7 x 81.2), [MW] 4 ¼ (10.8).
Nocturne in Blue and Silver, photograph, 1970s
Nocturne in Blue and Silver, Fogg Art Museum
Nocturne in Blue and Silver, frame detail
Grenville Lindell Winthrop (1864-1943) bequeathed his Whistlers to the Fogg Art Museum in 1943. It appears that in preparation for his bequest, or following their accession to the museum, these paintings were given identical replica Grieve-made frames.
It was presented by Whistler to Mrs Leyland at some time between 1871 and 1872, and was certainly at Speke Hall, near Liverpool, by November 1872. 19 Some notes and affidavits at the time of the Whistler v. Ruskin trial stress that it was a gift, and was not for sale in the Grosvenor Gallery exhibition of 1877, where Whistler's exhibits were targeted by John Ruskin (1819-1900). 20
A note by Whistler's attorney regarding the 1877 exhibition of this painting at the Grosvenor Gallery, and made in preparation for the Whistler v. Ruskin trial in 1878, states that it 'Belongs to Mrs Leyland 49 Princes Gate Hyde Park' and, in another note, that it is 'in the poss[essi] of Mrs Leyland 44 Princes Gate Hyde Park.' 21 However, they appear to have decided not to mention Mrs Leyland at the trial. A statement intended to be sent to Ruskin's solicitors (but not necessarily sent) stated that 'Nocturne in Blue and Silver ... Is the property and in the hands of Mr Leyland who purchased it from Mr Whistler at the price of 200 guineas.' 22 It is just possible that this was said to justify the price asked for the painting under contention in the trial, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket y170. If so, this was corrected in other statements.
In court the owner was named as Frances's husband, Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892). Whistler stated that the painting had been 'presented to Mr Leyland (blue & silver)', and he explained the meaning of the word 'Nocturne' as 'An Arrangement of line form and color.' 23 A transcript of the statements of witnesses on Whistler's behalf included references to this Nocturne in Blue and Silver. William Michael Rossetti (1829-1919), examined by John Humffrey Parry (1824-1880), stated, 'I consider Mr Leyland's picture a very artistic & beautiful representation of the pale blue moonlight', and William Gorman Wills (1828-1891) affirmed:
'I have seen the two blue & silver, I thought there was a considerable charm about them - a great knowledge of art - I saw than at the exhibition in 1877 - nature, age, & feeling for color … I believe them to be the work of a man of art and a genius.' 24
The painting was in Mrs Leyland's hands after her husband's death, and probably until her death in 1910: in 1921 the Pennells recorded it as in her estate. 25 It not known when it was sold, but it was definitely in the Henderson family by 1937, when it was shown in the Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Prints by James McNeill Whistler, courtesy of the Henderson Family of New Orleans, Louisiana State University Museum of Art, Baton Rouge.
1872/1876: In November 1872, Whistler asked Frederick Richards Leyland (1832-1892) if he could send the 'Nocturne', which was then at Speke Hall, to him in London, and at the same time thanked Leyland for suggesting the title 'nocturne':
'I want much to borrow Mrs. Leylands little "Nocturne." She says that she has no objection - so if you would kindly let John pack it in the case I took it to Speke in, and send it to me I should be very much obliged - with apologies for the trouble -
I say I can't thank you too much for the name "Nocturne" as a title for my moonlights! You have no idea what an irritation it proves to the critics and consequent pleasure to me - besides it is really so charming and does so poetically say all I want to say and no more than I wish! The pictures at the Dudley are a great success - The Nocturne in blue and silver is one you dont know at all.' 26
It is possible that Whistler wanted it for an exhibition in London or Paris at that time or early in 1873, but if so, it has not been identified with certainty.
Notes made by Whistler's attorney in preparation for the Whistler v. Ruskin trial show a certain amount of uncertainty about the exhibition history of this painting before it was exhibited in 1877. One such note reads '… believe[d] to have been exhibited at No [blank] Piccadilly & at Dudley Gallery', while a more specific affidavit states that it was 'at no. 48 Pall Mall in Piccadilly in 1874' and 'exhibited by me at the Dudley Gallery in 1876'. 27
1877-1878: When it was shown at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877, The Scotsman art critic, while rather dismissive of the portraits shown by Whistler, admired the nocturnes:
'Familiar, but none the less welcome, are J. Whistler's studies of colour and tone – nocturnes as he pleases to call them – in black and gold or blue and silver. Let not the oddity of the titles blind anyone to the charm of that luminous evening effect in which the whole field of view is occupied with delicate gradations of blue, or that still more impressive twilight over a vista of broad river, with lights glimmering here and there along the banks. More liable to be misunderstood are three portrait subjects which, we presume, can only be appreciated when viewed, in accordance with the suggestion of their titles, as exercises in chromatics.' 28
A particularly appreciative review was written by William Michael Rossetti (1829-1919):
'The Nocturne in Blue and Silver … ranks among the loveliest works of the painter's works of this class. The time appears to be earliest morning – the locality, the river as seen from Chelsea: a great reach and surface of water as conveyed to the eye by a sort of artistic divination, a curious power of intuition and suggestion working through means equally simple and subtle: right in front come a few flecked leaves of a shrub, which even a Japanese artist, unapproachable in such suddennesses of perfection, might be willing to acknowledge.' 29
The painting was presented in court as evidence in the trial for libel which Whistler brought against John Ruskin in November 1878. 30 According to the Pennells, Mrs Leyland 'was furious because it was taken into court without the frame.' 31
1892: For the entry in his Goupil catalogue, Whistler quoted an old review from Society, 'It seems to us a pity that an artist of Mr. Whistler's known ability should exhibit such an extraordinary collection of pictile nightmares.' He followed this with an excerpt from the interrogation of Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-1898) at the Whistler v. Ruskin trial of 1878, referring to the price of Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket y170. Burne Jones had said that he considered The Falling Rocket a 'work of art' but the price too high, 'when you think of the amount of earnest work done for a smaller sum.' 32
After the retrospective exhibition, Nocturne in Blue and Silver y113 was selected for inclusion in the Goupil Album of photographs, but Whistler was not happy with the reproduction, 'Mrs Leylands Nocturne - might be clearer … perhaps you had better borrow the picture again - it is so very bright - The photograph gives no true rendering of it.' 33 However, this did not happen. Whistler also hoped to borrow the painting again, first, to exhibit in Paris, and then, in the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, but it was not shown in either venue. 34
NOTE: See Merrill, Linda, A Pot of Paint: Aesthetics on Trial in 'Whistler v. Ruskin', Washington and London, 1992 for a summary of accounts of the Whistler v. Ruskin trial in 1878.
COLLECTION:
EXHIBITION:
1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 113).
2: Whistler 1890 [more], p. 8. Merrill 1992 [more], pp. 151-52.
3: Whistler to F. R. Leyland, [2/8 November 1872], GUW #08794.
4: I Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1877 (cat. no. 5).
5: List, [1886/1887], formerly dated [4/11 January 1892], GUW #06795.
6: Whistler to D. C. Thomson, [4 January 1892], GUW #08214.
7: Whistler to D. C. Thomson, [8 February 1892], GUW #05682.
8: Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 9).
9: Pennell 1908 [more], vol. 1, repr. p. 236.
10: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 113).
11: Harvard Art Museums website at http://www.harvardartmuseums.org.
12: Whistler 1890 [more], p. 8. Merrill 1992 [more], pp. 151-52.
13: Press cutting in GUL Whistler PC 2, p. 27.
14: See X-radiograph on Harvard Art Museums website at https://www.harvardartmuseums.org.
15: Simpson, Marc, Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness, and the Art of Painting Softly, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, 2008, pp. 4, 8-9, repr. p. 5.
16: 'The Grosvenor Gallery, Morning Post, 1 May 1877, p. 6.
17: Pennell 1921C [more], p. 103.
18: 14 February 1892, GUW #08216.
19: Whistler to F. R. Leyland, [2/8 November 1872], GUW #08794.
20: For instance, 'Mrs Leylands picture The river not sold but given away', note by J. A. Rose, [6 December 1877/ 18 November 1878], GUW #12061.
21: J. A. Rose, note and affidavit, [6 November 1878], GUW #12065; #08966.
22: J. A. Rose to Walker Martineau and Co., [6 November 1878], GUW #12066.
23: High Court of Justice to J. A. Rose, 25 November 1878, GUW #11991.
24: GUW #11991, op. cit. See Merrill 1992 [more], p. 160, for a fuller and slightly different version of his testimony.
25: Pennell 1921C [more], repr. f.p. 120.
26: Whistler to F. R. Leyland, [2/8 November 1872], GUW #08794; Leyland replied on 8 November that he had sent the picture to Whistler in London, GUW #02565.
27: J. A. Rose, note and affidavit, [6 November 1878], GUW #12065; #08966.
28: Anon., 'The Grosvenor Gallery', The Scotsman, Edinburgh, 2 May 1877, p. 7.
29: Rossetti 1877 (May) [more], at p. 467.
30: Merrill 1992 [more], pp. 108, 126, 146, 151-52, 160, 172.
31: Pennell 1921C [more], p. 103.
32: Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 9).
33: Whistler to D. C. Thomson, 2 May 1892, GUW #08205.
34: J. Whistler to D. C. Thomson, [1/8 April 1892], GUW #08210; B. Whistler to E. G. Kennedy, [22 October / November 1892], GUW #09703.