The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Nocturne: Battersea dates from the early 1870s, probably from between 1872 and 1875. ¹

Nocturne: Battersea, Private Collection

It is dated from the subject and technique, and comparison with other nocturnes, particular Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Battersea Reach y119.

Images

Subject

Titles

One title is known, with slight variations:

• "Battersea Nocturne" (1900, Whistler). ²
• 'Nocturne, Battersea' (1904, Copley Society, Boston) ³
• 'Nocturne: Battersea' (1980, YMSM). ⁴

'Nocturne: Battersea' is the preferred title.

Description

Nocturne: Battersea, Private Collection

A nocturnal river scene in horizontal format: five barges with furled sails are moored by a jetty that sticks out at a slight diagonal from near right to further away at left. There are buildings on the far side of the river, which recedes into the distance at right.

Site

This is one of several views of Battersea Reach from Chelsea Wharf, near Whistler's house in London (see. for instance, Grey and Silver: Old Battersea Reach y046, Nocturne in Blue and Silver y113, and Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Battersea Reach y119).

Technique

Technique

Nocturne: Battersea, Private Collection

It was painted thinly on coarse canvas.

Conservation History

Nocturne: Battersea, photograph, 1980

Unknown. Old photographs suggest it was perhaps rather uneven, and possibly rubbed down in areas.

Frame

Whistler Memorial Exhibition, Boston 1904, photograph, GUL Whistler PH6/6

By 1904, as shown in the Boston exhibition, it was in a Grau-type frame.

History

Provenance

• 1900: bought from the artist by Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932) of Wunderlich's, New York dealers;
• 1900: sold by Kennedy to George Washington Vanderbilt (1862-1914);
• 1914: bequeathed to his widow Edith Stuyvesant Vanderbilt (1873-1958) (later Mrs. E. S. Gerry);
• 1958: passed on her death to a private collection.

It is possible that Nocturne: Battersea y120 was the 'Nocturne in Grey & Silver' sold to Alfred Chapman (1839-1917), Liverpool. Whistler acknowledged payment on 22 June 1874:

'I have received your letter enclosing me cheque for two hundred guineas - for the two pictures - "Nocturne in Grey & Gold" (Southampton Water) and "Nocturne in Grey & Silver" - (Battersea).' ⁵

If so, it may have been exhibited at Goupil's in 1892 (cat. no. 25) as ' "Nocturne". Battersea Reach' (see Nocturne: Battersea Reach y160)

However, it is not certain that this was the case, nor indeed whether Whistler sold Nocturne: Battersea y120 before his bankruptcy in 1879 or retrieved it later. Whatever its earlier history, it reappeared in 1900, when it was obtained from Whistler by E. G. Kennedy of Wunderlich's, who sold it to G. W. Vanderbilt. Kennedy commented later:

'I sold a "Battersea Nocturne," to Mr. George W. Vanderbilt sometime in the '90's. I do not know who noticed that the painting was not signed - it may have been Mr. Vanderbilt - at any rate I must have called on Whistler for a note or memo to authenticate the picture for G. W. V., and against future foolish doubts of "Experts." ' ⁶

Whistler's ironic note, which Kennedy copied, and also sent on to Vanderbilt, read:

'You are perfectly right ... The "Battersea Nocturne" is not signed - and you may offer it, as it pleases you, to the most incredulous - Far from me the responsibility when the work is brought back to you, refused by some expert, upon whom it could not be imposed as anything but a Whistler / July 12, 1900.' ⁷

Exhibitions

• 1892: Possibly Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 25) as ' "Nocturne". Battersea Reach'.
• 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 60) as 'Nocturne, Battersea'.
• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 71).

It is just possible Nocturne: Battersea y120 was the 'Nocturne in Grey & Silver' sold to Alfred Chapman (1839-1917), Liverpool, in 1874, and exhibited at Goupil's in 1892 (cat. no. 25) as ' "Nocturne". Battersea Reach' (see Nocturne: Battersea Reach y160).

Its present whereabouts is not known exactly, although it is assumed to be still in the Vanderbilt family, and it has not been seen by the compilers of this catalogue.

Whistler Memorial Exhibition, Boston 1904, photograph, GUL Whistler PH6/6

It is recorded on exhibition in Boston in 1904, as seen in the photograph reproduced above.

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. 120), plate 84, as 'Nocturne: Battersea'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Possibly Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 25) as ' "Nocturne". Battersea Reach'.
• Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 60) as 'Nocturne, Battersea'.
• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 71).

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• None.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• None.

Journals 1906-Present

• Dreyfus, Albert, 'James Abbott MacNeill Whistler', Die Kunst für Alle, 1907, vol. 22, pp. 201-16, repr. f.p. 214.

Websites

• None.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 66) 'Nocturne, Battersea Reach'.

Other

• None.