The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander dates mainly from 1872 but was probably completed in the following year. ¹

According to William Cleverly Alexander (1840-1916), he commissioned Whistler to paint his daughters in 1872 because he liked Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother y101; he also said that Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander was started just before Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle y137. ²

Whistler's biographers, the Pennells, also wrote that Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander was begun before Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle was finished. ³

Although Whistler had planned to start with a portrait of another of W. C. Alexander's daughters, Agnes Mary ('May') Alexander (1862-1950) (presumably the portrait now known as Miss May Alexander y127), he changed his mind and wrote to ask her mother, Rachel Agnes Lucas (Mrs W. C. Alexander) (1837-1900), if he could paint the younger sister, Cicely Henrietta, instead: 'I should work at the present moment, with more freshness at this very "fair arrangement" I propose to myself, than at any other.' ⁴

Cicely was certainly posing in August 1872, and on 26 August Whistler asked, using his mother as amanuensis, if a new dress could be made, before the next sitting on the following Friday. ⁵ In November 1872 Whistler's mother Anna Matilda Whistler (1804-1881) said that Cicely was posing twice a week: 'Jemie is painting a life size Portrait of his 2nd little daughter, nearly finished now, Mrs A[lexander] has been bringing Cecily twice a week to stand in the Studio.' ⁶ Alexander sent Whistler £50, and thought, from his daughter's account, that the picture needed only a few more sittings:

'I enclose notes for £50 - in £5 - nos - 56437-46 16th Octr 72 ammunition which will keep your enemies off. Cissy gives her opinion of the portrait in very flattering terms - From the place where she stands it looks a daub but when she stands opposite to it[,] it is very pretty and I shall soon have two Cissys - A very few more sittings will I suppose bring completion to what will I am sure be a most charming work - and one which must add to your fame.' ⁷

Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander, Tate Britain

In the end, the portrait, Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander, required over 70 sittings before it was completed. ⁸

It was first exhibited at Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. 5) as 'Portrait, "Harmony in Grey and Green" '. Yet even after that, when he was about to start on the portrait of Cicely's sister at Aubrey House, Whistler asked the sitter's mother,

'I think I may promise to make very little "mess" and to give not so much trouble to my new sitter as I did to poor Cissie! How is Cissie and am I forgiven yet? - How does her picture look? and have you any secret wish that I should do anything to it? for may be a touch might easily be given to it while there.' ⁹

Images

Subject

Titles

Infinite variations on the title have been suggested, including:

• 'Portrait, "Harmony in Grey and Green" ' (1874, Flemish Gallery). ¹⁰
• 'Miss Alexander' (1881, Grosvenor). ¹¹
• 'Portrait de Miss A.' (1883, Whistler). ¹²
• 'Portrait de Miss Alexander' (1884, Société des artistes français, Paris). ¹³
• 'Arrangement en gris et vert. Portrait de Mademoiselle Alexander' (1884, Société des XX, Brussels). ¹⁴
• 'Arrangement in Grau und Grün: Miss Alexander' (1888, Königlicher Glaspalast, Munich). ¹⁵
• 'Harmony in Grey and Green (Portrait of Miss Alexander)' (1891, Society of Portrait Painters). ¹⁶
• ' "Harmony in Grey and Green". Portrait of Miss Alexander' (1892, Goupil). ¹⁷
• 'Miss Alexander' (1895, Grafton). ¹⁸
• 'Green and Grey. Portrait of Miss Alexander' (1899, Leinster Hall, Dublin). ¹⁹
• 'Portrait de Miss C. H. Alexander' (1905, Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Paris). ²⁰
• 'Portrait of Cicely, Henrietta, Miss Alexander' [sic] and, in deluxe edition, 'Harmony in Grey and Green, Portrait of Cicely Henrietta, Miss Alexander' (1905, ISSPG). ²¹
• 'Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander' (1980, YMSM). ²²

'Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander' is the preferred title.

Description

Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander, Tate Britain

A full length portrait of a girl, in vertical format. She stands in three-quarter view to left, her left leg pointing forward toward the lower left corner. There is a black bow in her long blonde hair. Her right arm is not seen, but in her left hand she holds a wide-brimmed hat. She wears white stockings and black pumps or dancing shoes. Her dress is white, with a grey scarf round her neck and a swathe of grey material below her waist. A large black rosette adorns her waist. Her sleeves are close-fitting at the top, and wider above the wrist. Her skirt is wide, falling to just below the knee. A grey cloak with a gold tassel sits on a stool behind her at left. A grey wall with a black dado and, at left, a narrow pilaster, are behind her. The floor is also grey. White blossom and butterflies are seen in the background.

Site

It was painted in Whistler's studio at 2 Lindsey Row, Chelsea. ²³

Sitter

Cicely Henrietta Alexander (1864-1932) was the second daughter of the London banker and collector, William Cleverly Alexander (1840-1916), and Rachel Agnes Lucas (Mrs W. C. Alexander) (1837-1900). She married Bernard Wilfred Spring Rice (1869-1953) in 1906. Mrs Spring Rice described her sittings:

'I'm afraid I rather considered that I was a victim all through the sittings, or rather standings, for he never let me change my position, and I believe I used to get very tired and cross and often finished the day in tears. This was especially when he had promised to release me at a given time to go to a dancing class, but when the time came I was still standing, and the minutes slipped away, and he was quite absorbed and had forgotten all about his promise, and never noticed the tears; he used to stand a good way from his canvas, and then dart at it, and then dart back, and he often turned round to look in a looking-glass that hung over the mantlepiece at his back I suppose to see the reflection of his painting ... I was painted at the little house in Chelsea ... Mrs. Whistler [the artist's mother] was living then, and used to preside at delightful American luncheons ... a servant used to be sent to tell him lunch was ready, and then we went on again as before. He painted, and despair filled my soul, and I believe it was generally tea-time before we went to those lunches ... I didn't appreciate ... being painted by Mr. Whistler, and I'm afraid all my memories only show that I was a very grumbling, disagreeable little girl ... I was too young to appreciate Mr. Whistler himself, though afterwards we were very good friends when I grew older, and when he used to come to my father's house and make at once for the portrait with his eye-glass up.' ²⁴

Comments

Comparisons of this painting to works by Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660) have been frequent. Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848-1907), for instance, wrote

'Imaginez une petite fille, d'un blond cendré, vêtue de blanc, tenant, à la main, un feutre gris, empanaché d'une plume et s'enlevant sur un panneau d'un gris ambré par le noir pur d'une plinthe; une blondine, aristocratique et anémiée, cavalière et douce, une infante anglaise se mouvant dans une atmosphère d'un gris doré par dessous, d'un or affacé de vieux vermeil. C'est encore, dans son large fini, peint à peine, et autant que les Vélasquez, brossés d'une si belle pâte dans la gamme des gris d'argent, cela vit d'une vie intense!' ²⁵

George Moore (1852-1933) raved about the painting:

'Truly, this picture seems to me to be the most beautiful in the world. I know very well that it has not the profound beauty of the Infantas by Velasquez in the Louvre; but for the pure magic of inspiration, is it not more delightful? … the portrait of Miss Alexander enchants with the harmony of colour, with the melody of composition.

Strangely original, a rare and unique thing, is this picture, yet we know whence it came, and may easily appreciate the influences that brought it into being. Exquisite and happy combination of the art of an entire nation and the genius of one man – the soul of Japan incarnate in the body of the immortal Spaniard.' ²⁶

The rich and subtle colours, and the results of his study of Japanese art, the 'imperative necessity of selection' from Nature and from the model, were, said Moore, what distinguished Whistler's work. It was, Moore asserted, 'the culminating point of Mr. Whistler's art.' ²⁷

In 1886 and 1887, Theodore Child (1846-1892) wrote praising Whistler's work while criticising his 'Ten o'clock Lecture':

'Here in Paris we only know Whistler the etcher of the Thames and of Venice, and Whistler the painter of "The White Girl," exhibited in the Salon of 1863, of the Japanese fantasie "On The Balcony," of "At the Piano," and of the portraits of Miss Alexander, of Thomas Carlyle, and of the artist's mother – half a dozen works which are as near masterpieces as anything which this century has produced.' ²⁸

Whistler presumably liked the praise but, as usual, objected to the criticism. ²⁹

Technique

Composition

D. Velázquez, Las Meninas, detail, photograph owned by Whistler, GUL Whistler PH3/8

Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander, Tate Britain

As recognised by many writers and art critics, Whistler was profoundly influenced by Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660), and owned a photograph of a detail of the famous Las Meninas in the Museo Nacional del Prado, showing the figure of the little infanta, which is often compared to the figure of Cicely Alexander. ³⁰

Miss Alexander, Private Collection

There is one oil study as well as numerous drawings related to the composition. A pastel, Miss Alexander m0504, signed with a butterfly, shows a similar dress, with four rows of frills on the skirt, frills at the neck, on the bodice, and at the top and bottom of the long, fitted sleeves. In this drawing the figure is facing right, not left as in Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander y129, and her right arm crosses the body.

Whistler's mother acted as chaperone during sittings, and helped as needed. She wrote to the sitter's mother, passing on Whistler's instructions for the dress:

'his fancy is for a rather clearer muslin than the pattern enclosed in your note. I think Swiss Book muslin will be right, that the arms may be seen thro it, as in the "Little White Girl" you may remember. it should be without blue, as purely white as it can be. he likes the narrow frilling such as is upon the upper skirt of the dress Sicily [sic] has worn, & I suppose the new one can be made in the same fashion exactly.' ³¹

Whistler added further instructions to the letter:

'If possible it would be better to get fine Indian muslin - which is beautiful in color - It would be well to try at a sort of second hand shop called Aked's in a little street running out of Leicester Square ...

Or perhaps Farmer & Roger may have it they often keep it - But try Aked first.'

Joseph Aked was an art dealer at 16 Green Street, Leicester Square, London, WC; Messrs Farmer & Roger's Great Cloak and Shawl Emporium was at 119 Great Regent Street, where Arthur Lasenby Liberty (1843-1917) was then Oriental Manager. It was a shop specialising in hats, cloaks and woven materials.

Design for a dress for Miss Cicely H. Alexander, British Museum

Whistler included a sketch in the same letter, Design for a dress for Miss Cicely H. Alexander m0503 (reproduced above), showing three rows of frills on the skirt and one round the neck.

'The dress might have frills on the skirts and about it - and a fine little ruffle for the neck - or else lace -

Also it might be looped up from time to time with bows of pale yellow ribbon -

In case The Indian muslin is not to be had - Then the usual fine muslin of which Ladies evening dresses are made will do - the blue well taken out - and the little dress afterwards done up by the laundress with a little starch to make the frills and skirts &c stand out, & of course not an atom of blue!' ³²

Finally, Anna Whistler completed the letter:

'As I handed as far as I had written, to my Son for his approval, he went on with it himself but, that you need not feel nervous about the time alotted, I have taken the freedom to put the dress left in my keeping, into the hands of my Laundress merely to extract the slight hue of sky blue, which is the sole objection, and so, it will be ready for Friday if the one ordered cannot be finished by then.' ³³

Study for the portrait of Miss Cicely Alexander, Fitzwilliam Museum

Another small drawing, Study for the portrait of Miss Cicely Alexander m0505, shown above, is a particularly vivid pastel showing the main elements of the colour and composition, though not the girl's features.

Study for the Head of Miss Cicely H. Alexander, Private Collection

There is an oil study of Cicely's head (Study for the Head of Miss Cicely H. Alexander y128), which may well represent an early stage in the evolution of the portrait.

Miss Cicely Alexander', Baltimore Museum of Art

Miss Cicely Alexander m0844, a pen drawing in the Baltimore Museum of Art, has most of the features of the completed composition, although the grey ribbon on the bodice and grey drapery round her waist are missing, and the black rosette on the waistband is larger. This is probably a memory sketch of the painting, and was drawn in or after 1880. ³⁴

Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander, Tate Britain

Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour', Fogg Art Museum, Harvard

The finished portrait, Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander, is related to Whistler's other studies of women in white, and particularly to a painting of similar date, Harmony in Grey and Peach Colour y131. This showed Maud Franklin (1857-1939), and incorporates elements of the dress, colour, and design in what appears to have been planned as a slightly grown up version of the portrait, but which was left in an incomplete state.

Lady Gordon's Daughter, GUL Whistler M131

A proposed portrait of a child in similar dress and composition, dating from the late 1880s, but which never got beyond the planning stage, is shown in another drawing, Lady Gordon's daughter m0994.

Technique

Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander, Tate Britain

In November 1872 Cicely was posing twice a week. ³⁵ The portrait required over 70 sittings before it was completed. The sitter described her sittings as follows:

'he never let me change my position. ... he used to stand a good way from his canvas, and then dart at it, and then dart back, and he often turned round to look in a looking-glass that hung over the mantlepiece at his back - I suppose to see the reflection of his painting.' ³⁶

According to Walter Greaves (1846-1930), 'the picture was painted on an absorbent canvas, and on a distemper ground'; Greaves also said that 'my sisters made the carpet of black and white tape which Whistler used when painting this portrait.' ³⁷

A detailed report by Professor Joyce H. Townsend adds valuable details on the technique, condition and conservation of the painting:

'Whistler’s canvas was fine, smooth and not primed, though it was sized with glue. He applied a thin imprimatura that was darker than a mid tone, made from lead white and bone black, over the background, and a similar but lighter grey, still thin, over the entire canvas. After each application of paint, Whistler rubbed down the surface. The final application of paint was not rubbed down, except in the hat and the panelling below the dado rail. The lighter colours on top extend beyond the darker tones with which he began the process each time. The brushmarks suggest he used both quarter and half inch brushes (6 mm and 12 mm wide).

The fuzziness of an X-radiograph of the figure, as well as an infrared photograph, testify to many wipings off and scrapings down of paint, over the reported seventy sittings. There is no evidence from the X-radiograph for any earlier use of the canvas, save for one puzzling brushstroke running from the hair ribbon down through the left eye. The left hand was moved in position by about its own width, by wiping paint, which makes the extent of the change difficult to quantify. The left leg was repositioned slightly. Possibly a chair was behind Cicely at an early stage, which could account for the slight change, but none of the sketches support this inference from the X-radiograph. The line of the bodice was altered slightly and not then rubbed down, concealing the earlier line. The rubbing down of unsatisfactory versions of the face was more thorough, so the paint that remains is thin. The X-radiograph shows the line of the neck beneath the hair, hence the hair was finished at a late stage.

The shadow was applied over the imprimatura that already surrounded the figure with a thin grey veil of colour. For the carpet, Whistler worked from dark to light, using very thin washes of colour. The flowers and butterflies were applied on top, in more opaque and thicker paint, which has cracked locally. Wherever the paint is not so thin that the colour beneath shines through, there are small-scale 'orange peel' drying defects on the surface, indicative of problems with the drying rate of the paint thinner. Such thinned paint presents huge technological difficulties, that Whistler would overcome in later years by skill and experience, as physically thin layers of much-thinned dark paints became his standard method for portraits.

The thicker brushstrokes, that were so pleasing to Whistler that they escaped being rubbed down, indicate that all the light-coloured paints are mixtures of the same pigments seen alone in brighter areas of feather, ruffle and butterflies. In fact, both the subtle and the crisp white areas are optical mixtures of bone black, cadmium orange/red, cadmium yellow and cobalt blue in lead white. Rose madder is present in some of the mixtures. The yellow sash, darker grey costume details, the chartreuse feather in the hat and the chartreuse of the cloak on the chair all contain the same limited palette of colours, and so do the yellow daisies behind Cicely. Whistler’s ‘universal harmoniser’ of ivory black (bone black) can be found in every layer and every area, but the brighter yellow and orange butterflies above her head have a different mixture of pigments, and likely were applied during a later stage of painting, since they break the colour harmony maintained so rigorously everywhere else. They contain strontium yellow, chrome orange, cobalt blue and zinc white added to lead white.

The optical effect of the dark grey imprimatura is to make the whole surface appear darker: the back of the chair against the wall, for example, is very difficult to see today. The effect is most noticeable in the hair, which now looks too transparent, and is more suggestive of reworking than are other areas, although this area also softened more than others during lining treatment of the canvas in 1942, and now looks smoother. The fact that the brushstroke running from the hair ribbon to the left eye is visible beneath the mid-toned hair on close inspection, but not beneath the paler flesh paint, suggests that the optical effect due to natural ageing of the paint predominates. The area for the hat, its position already determined through sketching, was reserved. That is, the hat was not painted on top of fabric fully elaborated beneath it. Thus it looks much more substantial than the chair back, and preserves the carefully-planned freshness and spontaneity of the child’s costume.' ³⁸

Conservation History

It appears to have been varnished by the picture restorer Orazio Buggiani (b. ca 1818) in 1878, after which Whistler asked Joseph Edgar Boehm (1834-1890) to come to his studio to see his paintings:

'... the fine sketch of Carlyle, the really beautiful picture of little Miss Alexander (all just varnished and seen for the first time in their full richness of color) you will feel that truth is on my side and have renewed confidence in the painter! ...

The little girl simply lives and breathes and stands in the room with us - and as Signor Buggiani, who has passed his days with the old Masters, says, "On ne fait pas mieux que ça! - on n'a jamais fait mieux que ça!".' ³⁹

It was cleaned by Stephen Richards (1844-1900), picture restorer, before being exhibited in 1892. Whistler sent instructions, 'I want you to be particularly careful with the Miss Alexander ... I have seen [Grau] to-day - and have told him about taking the measure for the glass for the Miss Alexander picture.' ⁴⁰ Richards therefore wrote to W. C. Alexander:

'Mr. Whistler tells me that you wish me to clean and revarnish the portrait of "Miss Alexander" ... so that it may be then glazed -

Will it be convenient that I should send for the picture this week, say tomorrow or Friday, so that I should be enabled to begin the cleaning before Mr. Whistler leaves town next week as he is most anxious to superintend the process.' ⁴¹

Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander, photograph, 1892, Goupil Album, GUL Whistler PH5/2

Afterwards, Whistler told Alexander, 'Your own little White Lady will astonish you I think when you see it again - it will be so fair and lovely!' and indeed, according to the artist Sidney Starr (1857-1925), it appeared to much greater advantage than in 1883, having a 'more delicate quality, the white having gained translucence.' ⁴²

Professor Townsend adds further information on conservation and condition, as follows:

'The painting is in its original format, evidenced by the cusping marks that indicate the original attachment of the canvas to the stretcher with tacks, though it was lined with wax/resin in 1942, under the supervision of National Gallery restorer Helmut Ruhemann. The work was carried out at Glasgow Art Gallery, since paintings had been removed from London in 1939 to avoid bomb damage during WW2.

It had previously had its original varnish removed and replaced in London by restorer Stephen Richards before its exhibition in 1892, under the supervision of Whistler, in consequence of which "the peculiar yellow and green tone which excited such enthusiasm has almost disappeared and there is no longer anything out of the common [in] the black of the shoes." It would appear that glass was first put into the frame at this time. In 1932 that varnish was "revived" by W. Holder & Sons, by "removing milkiness, rectifying patches of discoloured varnish": this does not mean that it was removed. The 1942 treatment involved trimming the edges, removing the varnish and re-varnishing, as well as lining. Since the stretcher is today not original, this must have been its date of replacement.

In 1977 surface dirt was removed from this varnish by Christopher Holden at Tate. In 1979 the yellowed varnish and retouchings associated with lining damage in 1942 were removed along with any residues of the original varnish, by Stephen Hackney at Tate. At the same time, the black overpaint of 1942 was thinned, and the surface was re-varnished with the non-yellowing synthetic acrylic resin Paraloid B-72 and in places with the similar Paraloid B-67 applied on top to reduce matteness. No doubt this removal of yellowed natural resin varnish had a similar visual effect to that noted in 1892, and enabled Whistler’s subtle colour harmony to be seen once more as he had painted it. Since that time it has not required further treatment.' ⁴³

Frame

1874: Flat Whistler frame, oil gilt on wood (oak on pine) which was originally painted with a basket weave decoration on the frieze similar to that seen on Arrangement in Grey: Portrait of the Painter y122. ⁴⁴

1892: the frame was cleaned and regilded by Frederick Henry Grau (1859-1892), thus removing the painted decoration.

Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander, frame

Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander, butterfly and frame, detail

This is an excellent example of a Whistler painting that possesses its original wooded frame but does not display the original surface. The first state of the frame would probably have had a basket-weave pattern painted on the flat, mirroring the pattern seen at young Cicely’s feet. ⁴⁵

This decoration was removed from the painting’s frame during preparations for the Goupil Gallery exhibition in 1892. On 3 March, Whistler told D. C. Thomson to instruct Frederick Henry Grau (1859-1892) 'To scrape and regild frame to Miss Alexander - Never mind about painting on frame - will do that myself by & bye - Gold same soft colour as on portrait of my Mother.' ⁴⁶ By this he meant, like the frame on Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother y101.

Whistler also reassured Mrs Alexander, 'Grau has had orders to thoroughly clean and regild the frame - and after wards, if you wish it, I will with great pleasure repaint the ornament upon it.' ⁴⁷ As evidenced by the current surface frame, it appears that the ‘by & bye’ never occurred and Whistler did not replace the painted decoration. Whistler often significantly altered the surface, or entirely changed his frames. Sometimes such changes were made twenty years after the initial creation date.

History

Provenance

• 1872: commissioned by William Cleverly Alexander (1840-1916), London;
• 1916: bequeathed by W. C. Alexander to the National Gallery, London, with a life interest to the sitter, Cicely Henrietta Alexander (1864-1932) (Mrs Spring Rice);
• 1932: passed to the Tate Gallery on her death;
• 1956: transferred to the National Gallery in 1956 and later returned to the Tate Gallery (Tate Britain).

According to Colby, Alexander refused an offer of £10,000 from a collector in America in 1913. ⁴⁸

Exhibitions

• 1874: Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. 5) as 'Portrait, "Harmony in Grey and Green" '.
• 1881: V Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1881 (cat. no. 113) as 'Miss Alexander'.
• 1884: Exposition internationale de peinture et de sculpture, Société des XX, Brussels, 1884 (cat. no. 4) as 'Arrangement en gris et vert. Portrait de Mademoiselle Alexander'.
• 1884: Ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure et lithographie des artistes vivants, 102nd exhibition, Salon de la Société des artistes français, Palais des Champs Elysées, Paris, 1884 (cat. no. 2454) as 'Portrait de Miss Alexander'.
• 1888: III. Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung, Königlicher Glaspalast, Munich, 1888 (cat. no. 2454) as 'Arrangement in Grau und Grün: Miss Alexander'.
• 1891: 1st exhibition, Society of Portrait Painters, London, 1891 (cat. no. 223) as 'Harmony in Grey and Green (Portrait of Miss Alexander)'.
• 1892: Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 23) as ' "Harmony in Grey and Green". Portrait of Miss Alexander'.
• 1894: Loan Collection of Pictures, Guildhall Corporation of London Art Gallery, London, 1894 (cat. no. 136) as 'Miss Alexander'.
• 1895: Fair Children, Grafton Galleries, London, 1895 (cat. no. 207) as 'Miss Alexander'.
• 1896: [Exhibition], Campden House, London, 1896 (cat. no. 28) (catalogue untraced).
• 1898: Possibly Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs, Vienna, 1898 (not in catalogue).
• 1899: A Loan Collection of Modern Paintings, Leinster Hall, Dublin, 1899 (cat. no. 79) as 'Green and Grey. Portrait of Miss Alexander'.
• 1899: Possibly III Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Città di Venezia, Venice, 1899 (ex catalogue).
• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 18) as 'Portrait de Miss C. H. Alexander'.
• 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. 32) as 'Portrait of Cicely, Henrietta, Miss Alexander' [sic] and, in deluxe edition, 'Harmony in Grey and Green, Portrait of Cicely Henrietta, Miss Alexander'.

1874: Mr Whistler's Exhibition.

The York Herald on 9 June 1874 described it as 'the most beautiful work in the collection', among fifty works in the show by the 'universally admired' Mr. Whistler.

It was among the first paintings by Whistler to be compared with the work of Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660). Whistler had occasion to write to one art critic:

'Permit me to reassure him, for the paintings he speaks of in glowing terms - notably "the full-length portrait of a young girl," which he overwhelms me by comparing to Velasquez, as well as the two life-size portraits in black, "in which there is an almost entire negation of colour" (though I, who am, he says, a colourist, did not know it) - are my latest works, and but just completed.' ⁴⁹

Sidney Starr (1857-1925) quotes an exchange between Whistler and Tom Taylor, the art critic of The Times, regarding the portrait, possibly in 1874:

'[Taylor] remarked that the upright line in the panelling of the wall was wrong, and the picture would be better without it, adding, "Of course it's a matter of taste". To which Whistler replied, "I thought that perhaps for once, you were going to get away without having said anything foolish; but remember, so that you may not make the mistake again, it's not a matter of taste at all, it is a matter of knowledge. Good-by." ' ⁵⁰

1881: The Grosvenor Gallery.

Critics continued to reference Velasquez: The Athenaeum, for instance, praised it as follows:

'There is at least one memorable example painted by Velasquez in the fashion which has been happily and powerfully illustrated in the life-size, whole-length portrait of Miss Alexander (113), a thoroughly artistic and scientific exercise in white, olive green, "gold," and grey, with black accents. The apposition of the grey felt hat and white muslin dress, which is itself a grey, is but one of many good points in this picture.' ⁵¹

Sketch of 'Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander', Private Collection

Sketch of 'Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander', Society, 11 June 1881

A drawing, Sketch of 'Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander' m0843, reproduced above, was probably drawn at the time of the exhibition of the painting at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1881. A second pen drawing, Sketch of 'Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander' m0845, signed with a butterfly and 'J McN W', was reproduced in Society on 11 June 1881.

A less flattering image was that of Harry Furniss (1854-1925), whose little cartoon in Punch showed the portrait of a girl with dark face and hands, and bushy hair, with beetles crawling on the wall; it was entitled 'Whistler's "Early Mourning" Advertisement Picture; or, "A Thing of Beauty is a Jay for ever!" ' ⁵²

1884: Brussels and Paris

Throughout Whistler's career Alexander was a tolerant and generous patron. Asked to lend the portrait to Brussels, he replied: 'There never was it seems to me a young ladie's [sic] portrait so often from home and her frame is already shabby & dirty from her tours but she shall go on the round again as you so very much desire it, and will take all care, and see to the insurance.' ⁵³ Whistler then asked Charles William Deschamps (1848-1908) to arrange the loan, 'This you will have properly rubbed up with silk handkerchief etc. and finally pack and send to the Société des XX Brussels.' ⁵⁴ Whistler assured Alexander it had been well received, 'Do you follow at all the splendid success of Miss Cissie abroad? - too delightful!' ⁵⁵ Recognising the Old Master association, on 17 June 1884 Indépendence Belge commented, 'Le portrait de Miss Alexander est celui d'un infante de Vélasquez élevée sur les bords de la Tamise, fleur de brouillard.' ⁵⁶

The painting went straight on to the Salon, where again it was well received. Joseph Edgar Boehm (1834-1890) remarked that he kept returning to 'old Carlyle & the sweet girl in grey, to cleanse my eyes & then home - & old Heilbuth I could have hugged when he said - "Das Einzige dort ist Der Whistlers!["]' ⁵⁷ For Brussels in 1884 it was insured for 300 guineas, and for Munich in 1888, for £1000. ⁵⁸

Fireplace and flowers, patterns and paintings, GUL Whistler M470

1888: Munich

On the verso of a letter from Robert Koehler (1850-1917) of the American Artists' Club, Munich, begging Whistler to exhibit with his 'illustrious countrymen', Whistler sketched various objects, Fireplace and flowers, pattern and paintings m1168, including the portrait of Cicely. ⁵⁹ Whistler used the argument that 'Mr Alexander makes no objection to my sending the full length life size portrait of his daughter', to try and persuade another patron – probably Alfred Chapman (1839-1917) – to lend to the Munich exhibition. ⁶⁰

Whistler managed to get together a substantial group: thirteen oils, twenty watercolours, seven pastels and thirty etchings. He told Koehler that he was willing to have these hung in the American section if there were guarantees they would be properly shown, and furthermore, 'If ... you think it fair to my American Contempories that I should thus overrun your walls.' ⁶¹ But when Whistler finally told them how much wall-space his works would require, there was simply not enough room, so it was decided to hang them in the British section, organised by the painter Fritz Georg Papperitz (1846-1918) and Adolf Paulus (1851-1924), business manager of the Künstlergenossenschaft. ⁶² Whistler's success at the exhibition was marked with honours, as he told W. C. Alexander, while at the same time begging – unsuccessfully as it turned out – for it to be lent again, to the Exposition Universelle, Champs de Mars, Paris, 1889:

'Miss Cicey's portrait is here now ... and [has] brought me back all sorts of honours from the thoughtless ones Abroad!

They have made me Hon. Member of the Royal Academy of Bavaria - and conferred upon me the Cross of St Michael ...

All of which you have delighted in and helped to bring about! - How shall I really ever thank you! - ... I want your help again - Yet I scarcely venture to ask! - but does it not seem absurd that the great Exposition Internationale should be without the beautiful little White & Grey Lady?' ⁶³

Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander, 1892, Goupil Album

1892: The frame was cleaned and regilded by Frederick Henry Grau (1859-1892) in March 1892, and the painting was cleaned and varnished by Stephen Richards (1844-1900), after which Whistler wrote asking David Croal Thomson (1855-1930) to approach W. C. Alexander about lending it to Whistler's one-man exhibition at Goupil's.

'I think you might go yourself and see Mr. Alexander- (Aubrey House) and ask him if, now that the large portrait of his daughter is cleaned and varnished, he will not be pleased to let you have it for the short space of four weeks - so that the people may see it in its splendid condition - and propose that he himself would like to see it there, now that it is so much envied.' ⁶⁴

The Alexanders gave their consent. ⁶⁵ Whistler then asked to see the their collection of press cuttings, from which he planned to select unfavourable reviews of ' "Ciceys" portrait' to publish in the Goupil catalogue, as he told the sitter's mother: 'what I asked for is all the vituperation and execration of the press at the time of its exhibition, of which you have so complete a collection.' ⁶⁶ The painting was undoubtedly highly regarded by this time. Thomson himself reported to Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896):

'First it must be recorded that the Exhibition is a great & legitimate artistic success. To those who have eyes to see, & fortunately they are increasing in number, the collection is the most notable event that has taken place in London for many many years & it will stand out for all future times as one of the epochs of art in this country.

... At the end of the gallery are the Miss Alexander[,] Battersea Bridge & Chelsea Battersea reach being on each side[.] The Miss Alexander is the most masterly work of all the collection & comment is useless before it. That it would & will take its place as one of the great portraits of the world there is not the least doubt.' ⁶⁷

Despite it being 'useless' the press did comment. The Graphic described 'the charming picture of Miss Alexander in seventeenth century costume' as showing 'clearly the influence of Velasquez', and The Queen also commented on the old-fashioned (though not several centuries old) appearance of the painting, 'looking as if it had been painted a hundred years ago'. ⁶⁸

1893-1894: A further loan of the portrait was suggested to Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932) and Edwin Austin Abbey (1852-1911) for the World's Columbian Exposition, Department of Fine Arts, Chicago, 1893, but the owner did not, apparently, agree. ⁶⁹

Seeing it at the Guildhall in 1894, the Times described Whistler as among the 'newer men' compared to the Pre-Raphaelites (which must have amused the 50 year old painter), and praised the portrait as 'a delightful harmony in gray and silver, an absolutely unaffected portrait of a child'. ⁷⁰ The American art dealer Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), who probably saw it at the Guildhall, commented courageously:

'I set out merely to express my admiration for your masterly portrait of Miss Alexander. I take off my hat Sir, & salute you. It is a great piece of painting & most lovely in Colour and arrangement. Don't explode now, and say "They are all like that". They're not. All Whistler's are fine or interesting, but some are better than others & this is one of them.' ⁷¹

1898: 'Grey & Green Miss Alexander' is included in a list of paintings for the Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs, Vienna, 1898: it is not clear if this is a definitive list or a wish list, but if the portrait of Cicely was included in the show, it was certainly not in the catalogue. ⁷²

1899: Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander had a busy year. It was sent to Dublin, where a local newspaper commented, 'The little girl ... is, of course, enchanting, in colour, pose, painting—everything'. ⁷³ It may have been at this time that it was seen and sketched by the Irish painter, Walter Frederick Osborne (1859-1903). ⁷⁴

The owner of the portrait, W. C. Alexander, while usually supportive of Whistler, objected to withdrawing the portrait from exhibition in Dublin, in order to lend it to the III Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Città di Venezia, Venice, 1899. ⁷⁵ In an attempt to persuade him, Whistler exaggerated the negativity of early reviews of the portrait, comparing them with recent complimentary reviews of the portrait of her sister, Miss May Alexander y127, and wrote to Alexander:

'Do you suppose the comic grovelling this year before her sister's portrait, barely begun, wipes away poor little Miss Cissie's tears, and her Father's blank looks at the coarse ribaldry and vile abuse that was brayed throughout the land where her own beautiful picture was shown?' ⁷⁶

Apparently the Mayor of Venice himself begged the Committee to withdraw the portrait from the Dublin Art Loan Exhibition and send it to Venice, but this was said to be impossible. ⁷⁷ It is not entirely clear if it did eventually travel to Venice, but it is not in the catalogue.

Rose and Gold: The Little Lady Sophie of Soho, Freer Gallery of Art

In 1899, when Whistler was President of the ISSPG, he wrote to John Lavery (1856-1941) asking for both recent and early reviews of the portrait of Cicely Alexander to be included in the catalogue entry for his recent portrait of a young girl, Rose and Gold: The Little Lady Sophie of Soho y504:

'To come after 138 in Catalogue

Times of today: ... "The vanished hand which drew the 'Symphony in White' and 'Miss Alexander' " -

Times of the moment of the "Symphony in White" and "Miss Alexander" - :

"His portrait of Miss Alexander is certainly one of the strangest and most excentric [sic] specimens of portraiture. ... We should imagine he had merely made a sketch and left it, before the colours were dry, in a room where the chimney sweep's are were at work ..."

"A child's portrait ... uncompromisingly vulgar." -

"Before such pictures as the full length portraits by Mr Whistler, critic and spectator are alike puzzled! ..... After all, there are certain canons about what constitutes good drawing, good colour, and good painting, and when an artist deliberately sets himself to ignore or violate all of these, it is desirable that his work should not be classed with that of ordinary artists." (sic!) The Times.

"Other Times, other lines!" ' ⁷⁸

Lavery was the patient and efficient secretary of the ISSPG during Whistler's Presidency, and he acknowledged the influence of Whistler's portrait on his painting, Her First Communion (1901, National Gallery of Ireland). Kenneth McConkey, in his excellent discussion of Lavery's portrait, quotes Lavery's account of an evening when Whistler viewed this painting

'looking at a portrait of a little girl in white – certainly influenced by his Miss Alexander he remarked that the white frock was too high in key for the flesh tone and asking for some charcoal he rubbed it in the hollow of his hand, then rubbing his finger in this proceeded to tone the white paint on the picture in the most delicate manner possible.' ⁷⁹

The charcoal has not survived, and there is no proof of any alteration made to Lavery's painting, one of several showing the influence of the portrait of Cicely. Margaret Helen Sowerby (known as Helen Sowerby) (1882, National Galleries of Scotland) by James Guthrie (1859-1930) is an earlier example of the pervading influence of the portrait of Cicely Alexander, while Lavery's Alice Fulton (ca 1900, Paisley Museum and Art Galleries) and The White Queen (ca 1901, private collection), as well as Cathleen (1907, National Gallery of Ireland) by William Orpen (1878-1931) are among several later works influenced by Whistler's portrait, and cited by McConkey. ⁸⁰

1905: Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander was one of the paintings in the Whistler memorial exhibition in Paris that was recommended by Antonin Proust (1832-1905) to his mother. ⁸¹ Proust had met Whistler once, probably through Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac (1855-1921). In 1906 (the year after the memorial show), Proust started to write À la recherche du temps perdu in which the character 'Elstir' was in part inspired by Whistler.

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. 129), plate 113, as 'Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander'.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. nos. 503, 505, 843-45).

Authored by Whistler

• Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 23).
• Goupil Gallery and James McNeill Whistler, Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces [portfolio of photographs published after the Goupil Gallery Exhibition, March-April 1892], London, 1892, repr. pl. 5.
• Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, London, 1890, pp. 47-48, under the heading ' "Confidences" with an Editor.'

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Mr Whistler's Exhibition, Flemish Gallery, 48 Pall Mall, London, 1874 (cat. no. 5) as 'Portrait, "Harmony in Grey and Green" '.
• V Summer Exhibition, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1881 (cat. no. 113) as 'Miss Alexander'.
• Exposition internationale de peinture et de sculpture, Société des XX, Brussels, 1884 (cat. no. 4) as 'Arrangement en gris et vert. Portrait de Mademoiselle Alexander'.
• Ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure et lithographie des artistes vivants, 102nd exhibition, Salon de la Société des artistes français, Palais des Champs Elysées, Paris, 1884 (cat. no. 2454) as 'Portrait de Miss Alexander'.
• III. Internationale Kunst-Ausstellung, Königlicher Glaspalast, Munich, 1888 (cat. no. 2454) as 'Arrangement in Grau und Grün: Miss Alexander'.
• 1st exhibition, Society of Portrait Painters, London, 1891 (cat. no. 223) as 'Harmony in Grey and Green (Portrait of Miss Alexander)'.
• Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Goupil Gallery, London, 1892 (cat. no. 23) as ' "Harmony in Grey and Green". Portrait of Miss Alexander'.
• Loan Collection of Pictures, Guildhall Corporation of London Art Gallery, London, 1894 (cat. no. 136) as 'Miss Alexander'.
• Fair Children, Grafton Galleries, London, 1895 (cat. no. 207) as 'Miss Alexander'.
• [Exhibition], Campden House, London, 1896 (cat. no. 28) (catalogue untraced).
• Possibly Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs, Vienna, 1898 (not in catalogue).
• A Loan Collection of Modern Paintings, Leinster Hall, Dublin, 1899 (cat. no. 79) as 'Green and Grey. Portrait of Miss Alexander'.
• 1899: Possibly III Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Città di Venezia, Venice, 1899 (ex catalogue).
• Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 18) as 'Portrait de Miss C. H. Alexander'.
• 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. 32) as 'Portrait of Cicely, Henrietta, Miss Alexander' [sic] and, in deluxe edition, 'Harmony in Grey and Green, Portrait of Cicely Henrietta, Miss Alexander'.

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Anon., 'Mr. Whistler's Pictures', York Herald, York, 9 June 1874, p. 6.
• Anon., 'Mr Whistler's Pictures', The Hour, London, 11 June 1874, p. 7; reprinted in Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, London, 1890, pp. 47-48, under the heading ' "Confidences" with an Editor.'
• Anon., 'Exhibition of Mr. Whistler's Paintings and Drawings',Pall Mall Gazette, London, 13 June 1874, p. 11.
• Anon., 'Exhibition of Mr. Whistler's Paintings and Drawings', Globe, London, 20 June 1874, p. 2.
• Anon., The Daily Telegraph, 25 June 1874, p. 5.
• Indépendence Belge, Brussels, 17 June 1884.
• Child, Theodore, 'Mr. Whistler's Ten o'Clock,' New York Sun, New York, 1886.
• Child, Theodore, letter to the editor, The World, London, 19 January 1887.
• Anon., 'The Whistler Show', Pall Mall Gazette, London, 19 March 1892, p. 2.
• Anon., 'Mr Whistler's Works', The Graphic, London, 26 March 1892, p. 26.
• Anon., 'Mr Whistler's Pictures', The Queen, London, 26 March 1892, p. 38.
• Anon., The Scotsman, Edinburgh, 6 June 1893, p. 5.
• Anon., 'The Guildhall Pictures', The Times, London, 2 April 1894, p. 11.
• Anon., 'The Grafton Galleries', Morning Post, London, 2 May 1895, p. 5.
• Anon., 'The Grafton Gallery', Pall Mall Gazette, London, 9 May 1895, p. 3.
• Anon., 'The Art of the Day', The Sketch, London, 5 June 1895, p. 25.
• Anon., 'Dublin Art Loan Exhibition. An Appeal from the Mayor of Venice', Dublin Daily Nation, Dublin, 31 March 1899, p. 5.
• Anon., Dublin Daily Express, Dublin, 31 March 1899, p. 4.
• Anon., 'Art Exhibition in Dublin', The Queen, London, 31 March 1899, p. 42.
• Anon., Dublin Daily Express, Dublin, 22 April 1899, p. 3.

Journals 1855-1905

• Anon., 'The Grosvenor Gallery Exhibition', The Athenaeum, 7 May 1881, pp. 629-30.
• Blackburn, Henry, Grosvenor Notes, London, 1881, p. 39.
• Society, 7 June 1881, drawing repr.
• Anon., 'The G. G. G., or Grosvenor Gallery Guide,' Punch, 25 June 1881, vol. 80, p. 300, with cartoon by 'H. F.' [Harry Furniss] entitled 'Whistler's "Early Mourning" Advertisement Picture; or, "A Thing of Beauty is a Jay for ever!" ', repr. p. 300.
• Brownell, W. C., 'The American Salon,' The Magazine of Art, vol. 7, 1884, pp. 492-99, at p. 492.
• Geffroy, Gustave, 'The Salon of 1891', La Justice, Paris, 1 July 1891 (translation, Spencer, Robin (ed.), Whistler: A Retrospective, New York, 1989, pp. 271-72).
• Гюисман, И . [Huysmans, I.], 'Уистлер' [Uistler], Мир искусства [Mir Iskusstva, 'World of Art'], vol. 2, nos. 16-17, 1899, pp. 61-68, repr. p. 63.
• Fry, Roger, 'Mr Whistler', The Athenaeum, no. 3952, 25 July 1903, pp. 113-14.
• Bénédite, Léonce, 'Artistes Contemporains: Whistler', Gazette des beaux-arts, vol. 33, 1905, pp. 403-10, 496-511; vol. 34, 1905, pp. 142-58, 231-46, in vol. 34 at pp. 242-43.
• Crucy, François, 'J. M.-N. Whistler', L' Art et les Artistes, Paris, 1905, pp. 40-45, at pp. 44-45.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Cary, Elizabeth Luther, The Works of James McNeill Whistler: A Study, with a Tentative List of Artist’s Works, New York, 1907, pp. 187-88 (cat. no. 189).
• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler: Uneasy Pieces, New York, 2004, pp. 64, 66, 408 n. 83.
• Duret, Théodore, Histoire de J. McN. Whistler et de son oeuvre, Paris, 1904, pp. 33-34, 46, 152, 205, drawings repr. pp. 36, 130.
• Laver, James, Whistler, London, 1930, pp. 141-43.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Susan Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, and Patricia de Montfort, Whistler, Women and Fashion, New Haven and London, 2003, pp. 45, 54, 71-75, 88, repr. fig. 73.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., (ed.) Whistler's Mother: An American Icon, Aldershot and Burlington, 2003, p. 160.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., 'James McNeill Whistler', in: Andreeva, Galina and Margaret F. MacDonald (eds), Whistler and Russia, Tretyakow Gallery, Moscow, 2006, pp. 16-57, at pp. 16-17, repr.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, pp. 171-75; vol. 2, pp. 116, 276.
• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Whistler Journal, Philadelphia, 1921, p. 301.
• Petri, Grischka, Arrangement in Business: The Art Markets and the Career of James McNeill Whistler, Hildesheim, 2011, pp. 128, 149, 214, 429, 442, 443, 462, 555, 706, 707.
• Sickert, Bernhard, Whistler, London and New York, 1908, p. 107 (cat. no. 39).
• Spencer, Robin (ed.), Whistler: A Retrospective, New York, 1989, pp. 103-04, 267, 272, 281-82, 291, 347.
• Spencer, Robin, Whistler, New York, 1990, pp. 76-77.
• Sutherland, Daniel E., Whistler: A Life for Art's Sake, New Haven and London, 2014, pp. 124, 132, 198, 256, 282.
• Sutton, Denys, Nocturne: The Art of James McNeill Whistler, London, 1963, p. 73.
• Taylor, Hilary, James McNeill Whistler, London, 1978, p. 190.

Books, General

• Denney, Colleen, At the Temple of Art: The Grosvenor Gallery, 1877-1890, Madison, NJ, 1999, p. 124.
• Draguet, Michel, Fernand Khnopff: Portrait of Jeanne Kéfer, Los Angeles, 2004, p. 30, fig. 24.
• Hackney, Stephen (ed.), Completing the Picture: Materials and Techniques of Twenty-six Paintings in the Tate Gallery, Tate, London, 1982, pp. 61-64.
• Hackney, Stephen, 'Art for Art's Sake: The Materials and Techniques of James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)' in Arie Wallert, Erma Hermens, ‎Marja Peek (eds), Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice, preprints, Leiden, 1995, p. 186.
• Huntington, David C., The Quest for unity: American art between world's fairs, Detroit, 1983, p. 143.
• Hobs, Susuan, and Barbara Dayer Gallati, The Art of Thomas Wilmer Dewing: Beauty Reconfigured, Washington, 1996, p. 124.
• Huysmans, Joris Karl, Certains: G. Moreau - Degas - Cheret - Wisthler [sic] - Rops - Le Monstre - Le Fer, etc., Paris, 1889, pp. 68-69.
• McConkey, Kenneth, Sir John Lavery, Edinburgh, 1993, pp. 79-80.
• Muther, Richard Geschichte der Malerei im XIX Jahrhundert, 3 vols, Munich, 1893-1894 ('Whistler und die Schotten', vol. 3, chap. 48, pp. 522-37), at p. 530.
• Moore, George, Modern Painting, London, 1893, pp. 11-15.
• Meier-Graefe, Julius, Modern Art, 2 vols., London and New York, 1908, pp. 220-21.
• Ono, Ayako, Japonisme in Britain: Whistler, Menpes, Henry, Hornel and nineteenth-century Japan, London, 2003, p. 250.
• Painter, George D. (ed.), Marcel Proust – Letters to his mother, London, 1956.
• Pisano, Ronald G., ‎Carolyn K. Lane, ‎D. Frederick Baker, William Merritt Chase: Portraits in oil, New Haven and London, 2007, vol. 2, p. 61.
• Stebbins, ‎Theodore E., Melissa Renn, and Ross Barrett, American Paintings at Harvard: Paintings, watercolors, pastels, and stained glass by artists born between 1826 and 1856, Cambridge, MA, 2008, p. 407.
• Tweedie, [Ethel Brilliana], Thirteen Years of a Busy Woman’s Life, London, 1912, p. 170.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION:

• Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: British School, 2nd edition, London, 1959, pp. 104-05 (cat. no. 4622).

EXHIBITION:

• Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (cat. nos. 31, 113).
• Sweet, Frederick A., James McNeill Whistler, Art Institute of Chicago and Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1968 (cat. no. 21).
• Dorment, Richard, and Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, London, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1994-1995 (cat. no. 62).
• Merrill, Linda, et al., After Whistler: The Artist and His Influence on American Painting, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2003, pp. 19-20, repr. fig. 11 (not in exhibition).
• Tinterow, Gary, and Geneviève Lacambre, Manet/Velázquez: The French Taste for Spanish Painting, New Haven and London, 2003, pp. 538-39 (cat. no. 222).
• Robins, Anna Gruetzner, and Richard Thomson, Degas, Sickert, and Toulouse-Lautrec: London and Paris, Tate, London, 2005, p. 227.
• Andreeva, Galina, and Margaret F. MacDonald, Whistler and Russia, State Tretyakow Gallery, Moscow, 2006, pp. 16-17, 182 (cat. no. 10), repr. p. 17.
• Stoner, Joyce Hill, 'Materials for Immateriality', in Simpson, Marc, Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness, and the Art of Painting Softly, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, 2008, pp. 91-109, at p. 95 (not exhibited).
• Calloway, Stephen, and Lynn Federle Orr (eds), The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2011 (book published New York, 2012).

Journals 1906-Present

• Starr, Sidney, 'Personal Recollections of Whistler', Atlantic Monthly, vol. 101, April 1908, pp. 528-37, at pp. 532-33.
• Pennell, J., 'The Forty Undiscovered Whistlers', International Studio, vol. 72, February 1921, pp. cv-cxiii, at p. cxii.
• Abbott, K. (ed.) and Whistler, Anna McNeill, 'The Lady of the Portrait, Letters of Whistler’s Mother', Atlantic Monthly, vol. 136, 1925, pp. 310-28, at p. 327.
• Colby, Reginald, 'Whistler and “Miss Cissie” ', Quarterly Review, vol. 298, July 1960, pp. 309-20, at pp. 310-20.
• Colby, Reginald, 'Whistler’s Controversial Masterpiece', Country Life, vol. 132, 2 August 1960, pp. 260-61.
• Nakanishi, Branka, 'A Symphony Reexamined: An Unpublished Study for Whistler's Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland', Museum Studies, Art Institute of Chicago, vol. 18, no. 2, 1992, pp. 156-67, 189-91, at p. 190.
• Townsend, J. H., 'Whistler's oil painting materials', The Burlington Magazine, 1994, vol. 136, pp. 690-95.
• McConkey, Kenneth, 'No tampering, no faking, no artifice. Her First Communion by John Lavery', The British Art Journal, vol. 21, no. 1, Spring 2020, pp. 54-59.

Websites

• Fowle, Frances, Tate, London, 2000, website at http://www.tate.org.uk.
• 'Harmony in Grey and Green: Portrait of Miss Cicely Alexander', The Victorian Web, 2018, website at http://www.victorianweb.org.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 111).

Other

• Marchant, Wm. and Co., A Reply to an Attack Made by One of Whistler's Biographers on a Pupil of Whistler, Mr Walter Greaves and his Work, London, 1911, p. 10.
• Parkerson, Sarah Lawrence, Variations in Gold: The Stylistic Development of the Picture Frames used by James McNeill Whistlers, PhD thesis, University of Glasgow, 2007.